The cryptocurrency market capitalization peaked in January at $835 billion and then promptly lost nearly half of its value by the following month. After $400 billion vanished, lawsuits quickly filled the void, including two class actions filed in the Southern District of Florida.These cases present the Southern District of Florida with an opportunity to serve as the first federal court to publish decisions on digital currency issues, including whether these currencies are securities, commodities, or an altogether new class of assets.

Centra Tech

The first cryptocurrency-related class action filed in the Southern District of Florida alleges that Miami Beach’s Centra Tech violated federal securities law by selling unregistered securities. The class claims that Centra Tech raised over $30 million by hosting an ICO (initial coin offering) of CTR tokens. According to Centra Tech, CTR tokens enable its holders to access and navigate Centra Tech’s product line. The product line boasts a variety of audacious digital currency financial products under development, none of which would be more revolutionary than a prepaid card purportedly capable of holding any major digital currency (i.e., Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple, etc.), transacting on any existing payment card network (like Visa or MasterCard), and exchanging digital for fiat currency in real time.