BRAEDEN ANDERSON
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We provide authoritative analysis on securities and commodities regulation, SEC and FINRA enforcement, and legal developments affecting crypto, digital assets, fintech, and financial services, authored by Braeden Anderson.
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Make Amateurism Great Again? An Attack on U.S. Capitalism by a Republican Administration
As a former Division I basketball player, a practicing attorney, and an unapologetic believer in American capitalism, I bring a uniquely principled perspective to this issue. I’ve lived both the physical grind and the regulatory complexity of college athletics. I know what it means to stretch a scholarship into opportunity—to rise before dawn for workouts, sit through hours of law school lectures, and navigate a system that extracted elite-level performance while denying me the right to earn from my own name or have an agent. I am a product of that paradox. I’ve lived its costs and now work on the legal frontlines of its reform. On July 24, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Saving College Sports,” casting it as a federal response to the disruption wrought by athlete compensation litigation, the proliferation of NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals, and what he calls the growing professionalization of amateur sports. The Order activates a broad coalition of federal agencies—from the DOJ to the Department of Education—to “restore guardrails” in the name of fairness and educational integrity. But behind the carefully crafted rhetoric lies something far more troubling: a reactionary effort to reinstate centralized control, cap market forces, and entrench the institutional advantages of college sports’ old guard. This Executive Order, far from advancing American values, runs directly counter to them. It betrays the entrepreneurial spirit, market freedom, and individual rights that conservative leadership claims to uphold.
CFPB’s Overreach: Applying Regulation E to Unhosted Wallets is Legally and Technologically Unsound
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued a proposed interpretive rule that aims to expand the scope of Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and Regulation E to include unhosted blockchain wallets such as MetaMask.
President Trump Launched a Memecoin: Much Ado About Nothing?
The launch of President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency token has sparked controversy, with critics framing it as a regulatory and ethical quagmire. However, when analyzed through established legal frameworks, these attacks seem more like political theater than substantive concerns. While $TRUMP has undoubtedly captured headlines and stirred debate, the reality is that this token likely does not meet the legal definition of a security. Without significant changes to how it is marketed or managed, critics’ arguments appear to lack the necessary substance to stick.
Crypto Isn’t Subject to Wash Sale Rules—and That’s a Good Thing
Tax policy and cryptocurrency often intersect in fascinating and sometimes contentious ways, and one prime example is the ongoing debate over the application of the wash sale rules to digital assets. These rules, codified under section 1091 of the tax code, are a cornerstone of tax law for traditional securities, designed to curb tax-motivated sales. However, they currently do not apply to crypto assets—and that’s not a loophole; it’s a deliberate and defensible policy decision rooted in sound tax principles.
U.S. Treasury’s Overreach in Crypto Broker Reporting Sparks Industry Outrage
Recent developments in Treasury’s crypto broker reporting regulations have ignited heated debate across the digital asset community. At the heart of the controversy lies a significant overreach: Treasury’s expanded definition of “broker” now includes entities like informational websites, platforms with "connect wallet" features, and other services that merely provide users with data they can use to transact on blockchain networks. This interpretation, codified in TD 10021, has drawn sharp criticism for its legal overextension and potential to stifle innovation in the burgeoning crypto sector.