News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
New York's chief legal officer and securities enforcer, whose Martin Act and Executive Law 63(12) powers have driven a run of digital asset cases since 2021 and, on 31 July 2026, a state court petition seeking to shut Kalshi's sports event contracts as unlicensed gambling.
The Office of the Attorney General is the legal department of New York State, created under the state's first constitution in 1777 and elected statewide since 1847. It employs more than 700 assistant attorneys general across eight divisions. Financial market work sits in the Economic Justice Division, whose Investor Protection Bureau enforces the Martin Act, codified at General Business Law article 23-A, a securities and commodities fraud statute that supports both civil and criminal action and does not require proof of intent to defraud. New York courts have treated virtual currency as a commodity within it. Executive Law 63(12) supplies a parallel remedy against repeated fraudulent or illegal conduct in business. Recent digital asset matters include the February 2021 settlement that ended Bitfinex and Tether trading with New Yorkers and imposed $18.5 million in penalties, and the October 2023 suit against Gemini, Genesis and Digital Currency Group over the Gemini Earn lending product. On 31 July 2026 the office applied the same authority to event contracts, petitioning against KalshiEX LLC.
Developments in which New York Attorney General is a named party, newest first.
New York's Attorney General petitioned a state court on 24 September to stop QCX LLC, trading as Polymarket US, operating unlicensed in the state, seeking three times its gains and $100,000 per unauthorised offer.
New York led seventeen other states and the District of Columbia in telling the Senate Banking Committee to vote no.
KPMG US issued an unqualified opinion on the 2025 financial statements of Tether International, the entity Tether says is the only issuer of USDT, and found reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.814bn at 31 December 2025.
The Commission found on 11 August that a state enforcement action and its motion for a restraining order are a major market disturbance, and directed KalshiEX to keep operating.
The state's petition asks a New York court to shut an exchange the CFTC licenses, with remedies one report reckons could pass $36bn, and puts the sharpest question yet to the federal footing of event contracts.
The Attorney General's verified petition against QCX LLC, trading as Polymarket US, alleges unlicensed gambling under state law and the Wire Act and seeks three times its gains and $100,000 per unauthorised offer. The same day Polymarket US sued the Attorney General and the Gaming Commission in the Southern District of New York, arguing that the CFTC's exclusive jurisdiction preempts state gambling law.
New York led seventeen other jurisdictions in a letter to the Senate Banking Committee objecting that the bill gives the SEC preemption authority indirectly through a new qualified transaction loophole in the Securities Act of 1933, and would render the covered security designations in section 18 meaningless. That provision is unchanged from the version published four days earlier.
Tether announced on 13 August 2026 that KPMG US had audited the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. for the year ended 31 December 2025 and issued an unqualified opinion, with reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.814bn. The statements and the auditor's report were not published.
The Commission found on 11 August 2026 that New York's enforcement action and its motion for a temporary restraining order are a major market disturbance under section 8a(9) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and directed KalshiEX to continue performing its functions as an exchange under the Act's core principles. No court had ruled on the restraining order.
Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced on 31 July 2026 that New York had petitioned the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, against KalshiEX LLC, alleging that its sports event contracts amount to an unlicensed gambling business under state law: wagers on outcomes outside the bettor's control without a Gaming Commission licence, users admitted from the age of 18 against a state minimum of 21, and none of the tax obligations licensed operators carry. The petition seeks an injunction, forfeiture of gains, treble damages, restitution and civil penalties.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
Unsubscribe in one click.