A New York judge ruled Friday that the majority of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil securities fraud suit against crypto venture firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) and two of its executives can proceed to trial.

In 2023, James sued James sued DCG and its CEO Barry Silbert, DCG’s now-bankrupt lending arm Genesis Global Capital and its former CEO Michael Moro and crypto exchange Gemini, alleging that they worked together to cover up a gaping $1 billion hole in Genesis’ balance sheet caused by the wipe-out of Singapore-based crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) in 2022.

James said DCG and Genesis made “false assurances” on social media that DCG had absorbed Genesis’ losses from 3AC’s implosion when, in fact, they had just papered over the hole with a promissory note, pleading to pay Genesis $1.1 billion over 10 years at a 1% interest rate. While DCG has adamantly maintained that the promissory note was legitimate, James’ suit claimed that DCG has “never made a single payment under the Note.”

While Gemini and Genesis both settled with the OAG, DCG, Silbert and Moro have fought them tooth and nail. Last spring, DCG and both executives filed motions to dismiss the suit, alleging that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) had failed to state a claim — essentially arguing that they were not selling securities and thus should not be sued under New York State securities laws.

But the judge presiding over the case disagreed in her Friday ruling, writing that the OAG had, at least at the current stage of the case, adequately alleged that the Gemini Earn program — the now-defunct Gemini lending product that went belly-up in November 2022 and which sits at the center of James’ case — was a security.

Crane did, however, agree to toss out two of James’ claims against DCG, Moro and Silbert — one claim under New York’s Executive Law that they engaged in a scheme to defraud in the first degree, and another that they engaged in a conspiracy in the fifth degree — ruling that those claims were duplicative.

Though Crane ruled the case can proceed, DCG said it isn’t done fighting.

“As we have stated from the beginning, the allegations against DCG are a thin web of innuendo, mischaracterizations, and unsupported conclusions,” a spokesperson for DCG told CoinDesk. “We’re encouraged by the judge’s dismissal of the New York Attorney General’s most outrageous claims based on alleged violations of criminal fraud and conspiracy statutes. We will continue to fight this baseless lawsuit as we remain focused on our mission in support of the digital assets industry.”

Attorneys for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Binance asked a federal judge on Friday to continue a pause in the regulator’s case against the crypto exchange for another two months, citing «productive discussions.»

The SEC sued Binance in 2023, alleging the exchange — alongside its U.S. affiliate and executives such as former CEO Changpeng Zhao — violated federal securities laws by operating as an unlicensed clearing agency, broker and exchange. The SEC also alleged commingling and that Binance.US’s trading volume was manipulated. In February, after U.S. President Donald Trump retook office and appointed Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting agency chair, the regulator asked for a 60-day pause in the case, which was set to expire on Monday. The SEC pointed to a newly created crypto task force aiming to draft clearer guidance around how securities law might apply to digital assets as part of its explanation for the requested pause.

In Friday’s filing, the attorneys involved said the discussions included «how the efforts of the crypto task force may impact the SEC’s claims,» and requested another 60 days’ pause.

«In light of these continued discussions and the time required for the staff to seek authorization from the Commission as necessary to approve any resolution or changes to the scope of this litigation, the SEC requested that the Defendants agree to continue the current stay for an additional 60 days, and the Defendants agreed that continuing the stay is appropriate and in the interest of judicial economy,» the filing said.

Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.

Trump’s on-again, off-again import levies dominated the week. At the beginning, tariffs sent stocks and crypto appreciably lower. By the end, with all new non-China tariffs paused for 90 days, markets were up again.

Bitcoin returned to a level ($82,000) that it was at this time last week. And analysts debated whether, in the panic of the previous days, it showed “safe haven” qualities (like gold) or whether it was a risk-asset like many others. The consensus was that bitcoin performed resiliently rather than completely reassuringly.

Our Asia reporting team led the way on our markets coverage. Omkar Godbole started the week strong by revealing how the unwinding of the «basis trade» could impact bitcoin price. Sam Reynolds wrote on how Kalshi was set to win its legal battle in Nevada, hours before the prediction market got its first victory in the state. Shaurya Malwa reported on the first XRP ETF listing in the U.S. and how Teucrium’s leveraged fund received $5m during its first day of trading.

From our European team, there was some timely analysis from James Van Straten, and the All-Important U.S. 10-Year Yield Moving in the Wrong Direction for Trump, and a story showing the resilience of the decentralized economy from Oliver Knight, How DeFi ‘Defied’ Market Carnage as Traders Poured Millions Amid Panic. Our coverage expanded beyond just tariffs and market reactions, with Jamie Crawley’s scoop, Rootstock Prepares to Release SDKs for Bitcoin Layer 2s Using BitVMX after he took the opportunity offered by an embargoed press release to phone the company and interview the founder. And there was a nice DeFi follow-up on the repercussions of HyperLiquid’s price manipulation exploit from March by Oliver, How the Hype for HyperLiquid’s Vault Evaporated on Concerns Over Centralization.

Meanwhile, there was lots of news that wasn’t tariff-related.

Paul Atkins was confirmed as the new SEC chair. The Department of Justice closed down its crypto enforcement unit, prompting criticism, from Democrats and others, that it’s not serious about combating malfeasance. The SEC approved ETH ETF options, following a long delay. And President Trump put an end to a controversial DeFi accounting rule.

It was a week that showed how crypto was increasingly central to finance and even macro-economics. Fun times are ahead.