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Jason Weinstein

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Jason Weinstein conducts internal investigations and represents companies and individuals in high-profile criminal matters. With 15 years of experience in senior positions at the US Department of Justice (DOJ), he helps corporations and boards successfully navigate challenging government enforcement matters and defends individuals in criminal investigations and prosecutions. He is recognized across the United States as an authority on legal and regulatory issues involving digital currencies and blockchain technology. Jason serves as co-chair of Steptoe's White-Collar and Securities Enforcement and the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency practices. Read Jason's full bio.

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Anyone who has tried to explain bitcoin around their kitchen table knows that it is not easy to put your finger on what exactly the technology is.  Because of their innovative nature, digital currencies don’t have obvious analogs or fit easily into existing categories.  Bitcoin is part currency, part digital payment system, and part immutable ledger.

This confusion is not merely academic.  How digital currencies are defined determines how they are regulated.  For instance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determined that bitcoin is a form of property, not currency, for tax purposes.  The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) labeled bitcoin a commodity.  Could the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decide that bitcoin is a form of security?Continue Reading Are Bitcoin and Other Digital Currencies Securities?

Following the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, polls show that Americans identify terrorism—more than any other issue—as the most important problem facing the US.  In this environment, some media outlets have predicted a pending “crackdown” on digital currencies, particularly by European governments, because of the risk that the technology could be used to fund terrorism.

But do digital currencies like bitcoin actually pose a unique threat when it comes to funding terrorist networks?  Jason Weinstein published a post on Medium earlier this week—“Combating Bitcoin Use by Terrorists?”—that seeks to answer this question.Continue Reading Bitcoin and Terrorist Financing

This week featured interesting remarks from two of the most influential thought leaders in Bitcoin and the blockchain – Blythe Masters and Brian Forde.

During SourceMedia’s Convene conference, Masters, the CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, observed that while we are in the early days of development for Bitcoin and the blockchain, similar to where we were with the Internet in the early 1990s, “[t]he potential addressable markets for these types of technologies are gigantic.” For instance, Masters noted that blockchain technology could transform the way we trade and settle transactions for stocks, bonds, and derivatives.Continue Reading What Does Donald Trump Think About Bitcoin?

In an area that is growing and evolving as fast as FinTech, it’s often difficult to take a step back and take stock of where we are, and where we’re headed. So kudos to CoinDesk, which recently issued its State of Bitcoin report for the second quarter of 2015, its seventh such report since February 2014. The report is a great read that contains a number of terrific insights into trends and developments in Bitcoin and other digital currencies. One of the most interesting aspects of the report related to the significant number of banks throughout the world that are experimenting with use cases for blockchain technology. The report cited Santander, Barclays, UBS, and BNY Mellon as among the global banks exploring the potential of the blockchain.
Continue Reading Smart Banks Are Banking on the Blockchain

In prior posts we’ve observed that the technology underlying Bitcoin – the “blockchain” – presents a world of possible applications unrelated to the use of Bitcoin as a currency. From securities settlement to remittances to asset transfer to the Internet of Things, the possibilities are endless, and some of the best and brightest minds in the world are investing their time, energy, and money to unlock the blockchain’s potential.

But the crisis in Greece is shining a brighter light on Bitcoin as a currency. With capital controls, restrictions on withdrawals, and widespread fears of a banking collapse, there has reportedly been a significant increase in the acquisition of bitcoins by users in Greece. With Greeks reportedly resorting to IOUs to obtain needed goods because of a lack of access to their money, the crisis underscores the advantages of Bitcoin as a way of paying for goods and services and transferring money across town or around the world without having to depend on traditional financial institutions.Continue Reading Bitcoin Is No Longer All Greek to the Greeks

On Thursday, April 23, I spoke at the Bretton Woods Committee seminar, “Digital Payments and Currencies: Global Threat or Opportunity?”  The panel discussed the changes digital currencies and payment systems have brought to the market and the disruptive potential of a future in which they may become more conventional.

An audio clip of the seminar…

It’s only been about a week since New York’s outgoing Superintendent of Financial Services Ben Lawsky released the long-awaited “BitLicense” rules for digital currency businesses operating in New York, but it’s not too early to try to assess the potential impact of those rules on the development of Bitcoin-related businesses and emerging financial technologies.

The primary question on everyone’s mind: Are the BitLicense regulations – the product of a nearly two-year rulemaking process – good or bad for Bitcoin? The answer: A little of both. The truth is that the BitLicense rules are a mixed bag, and how you perceive them depends to some extent on whether your glass is half-full or half-empty.Continue Reading Are New York’s BitLicense Rules Good or Bad for Bitcoin?

Most people who’ve heard of “Bitcoin” know it only as a virtual currency sometimes used by criminals.  But there are entrepreneurs, engineers, venture capitalists, and bankers who are betting big on the untapped economic potential of the “blockchain” – the underlying technology that makes Bitcoin run.  In a sense, Bitcoin is just the first “app” to use the blockchain technology.  There will be many other apps in the years to come that could transform the way we do business, the way we move assets, and, through the Internet of Things, even the way we live.  But for the blockchain’s potential to be realized, Bitcoin cannot be perceived as the “currency of criminals” – and that means law enforcement has to be able to go after those who would use Bitcoin and the blockchain to commit crimes.
Continue Reading Why Bitcoin is Good for Law Enforcement – and Why Law Enforcement is Good for Bitcoin