Joseph Cioffi, Davis+Gilbert’s Chief Operating Partner and Bankruptcy, Creditors’ Rights + Finance Practice Group Chair who has worked on large crypto bankruptcies and forfeiture proceedings, was quoted in Cryptopolitan commenting on the effect of the verbal agreement made by the founders of Dough Financial to compensate users following a hack of the platform. As noted, post-hack promises are not...
July 2024, Dough Finance — a crypto startup trading platform that made it easy to make risky bets using borrowed funds — suffered a major hack, resulting in the theft of substantial assets belonging to its users. Following the collapse of Dough Finance, the founders launched a new venture — World Liberty Financial — in partnership with Donald Trump and his three sons. One investor, Jonathan...
Over the last decade, year over year, hackers have stolen billions of dollars in cryptocurrencies. Last month, another of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges was hacked in what has been called the largest crypto heist in history. The exchange was Bybit, based in Dubai, and the hackers, which according to a public announcement by the FBI are linked to North Korea, ran away with $1.5...
The infamous Bitfinex hack is back in the public eye. Forget the Netflix show, the real drama is the actual fight over who is entitled to restitution. Account holders may have given up years ago, but they now have a chance to recover their stolen Bitcoin, though Bitfinex stands in the way. In this article for Reuters Legal News and Westlaw Today, Joseph Cioffi and his co-authors discuss the...
To be a victim or creditor, that is the question. Whether ‘tis better to remain silent and suffer the outrageous fortune of a hacked exchange receiving $6 billion in restitution as the alleged sole victim of the hack, or take arms against that sea of trouble and by opposing end the exchange’s bid for a windfall? Just as Marcellus of Hamlet knew there was something rotten in the state of Denmark,...
In this Law360 article, Joseph Cioffi provides his thoughts on the fairness of distributing forfeited funds to preferred shareholders in the FTX bankruptcy, while creditors are arguably not being paid in full based on today’s crypto values.
The recent bankruptcy filings by several major crypto platforms have given rise to unexpected realities for customers and investors. The sudden change in rights, legal exposure in bankruptcy litigation and varying outcomes in the several different proceedings can be reminiscent of a Hollywood multiverse where infinite realities are possible. Perhaps the area in which an alternate reality is most...
