You’ve got a friend in me: How amicus briefs are helping the crypto industry win over the courts

Amanda Tuminelli

Last week, oral arguments in the case filed by the Securities Exchange Commission against <a href="https://fortune.com/company/coinbase/" target="_blank">Coinbase</a> demonstrated an underappreciated strength of the cryptocurrency community: our collective legal expertise. While questioning the parties, <a href="https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-katherine-polk-failla">Judge Katherine Failla</a> of the Southern District of New York <a href="https://x.com/MetaLawMan/status/1747670652708933731?s=20">mentioned</a> several amici curiae—“friends of the court”—who submitted filings in support of Coinbase and noted their helpfulness in fleshing out key issues. The growing number of cases involving cryptocurrency and our opportunity to weigh in on important legal issues begs the question: Why don’t we as an industry do even more to proactively engage the judicial branch of our government?<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



Amicus briefs are one way to do so. An amicus brief is a legal filing by third parties, not directly involved in litigation, that assists the court by raising policy issues or providing additional context for a particular argument. Amicus briefs are commonly filed in major Supreme Court cases. According to <a href="https://www.arnoldporter.com/-/media/files/perspectives/publications/2020/11/amicuscuriae-at-the-supreme-court.pdf?rev=3d5f6c33bb6c4a86bb99eb6ee8e910ee&amp;sc_lang=en&amp;hash=13B0E591D9883DA2000487EA43DDC068">this study</a> by the law firm Arnold &amp; Porter, more than 900 amicus briefs were filed during the 2019–2020 Supreme Court term, and justices cited them in 65% of cases. However, while amicus briefs are common at the highest level, many cases pass through trial courts and federal appellate courts without them. 



But cases involving cryptocurrency have not followed this norm: In the case against Ripple, the industry filed 14 amicus briefs; in Coinbase, six; and in Grayscale, eight entities worked together to file amicus briefs. Failla’s on-the-record citations of the amicus briefs filed in support of Coinbase’s motion was a remarkable moment that highlighted how much these briefs can make a difference: A judge in a federal trial court-level case repeatedly cited to cryptocurrency industry briefs while discussing the merits of the SEC’s case and the technology at issue. 



Some crypto companies, of course, have chosen to take more aggressive legal postures—namely <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/discovery-disputes-ripple-forces-sec-play-defense-2021-06-07/">Ripple</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/coinbase-files-legal-challenge-push-sec-write-rules-crypto-2023-04-25/">Coinbase</a>, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/30/grayscale-sues-sec-after-rejected-bid-to-turn-bitcoin-fund-into-etf.html">Grayscale</a>, which have been in full-blown litigation with the SEC. Others are reluctant to go this far. Understandably so: It&#8217;s expensive to wage legal battles, and litigation can drag on for years. And even if industry participants feel that battles are worth waging, they rightfully worry that putting themselves out there will land them in regulators&#8217; crosshairs. 



For those who have such concerns but still want their voices to be heard or to lend their expertise, the best solution remains the amicus brief. And if you don’t want to write one or hire counsel to do so yourself, support those who will represent your interests in their briefs. Organizations like <a href="https://www.coincenter.org/amicus-brief-in-case-relating-to-irs-john-doe-summons-on-exchanges/">CoinCenter</a>, <a href="https://theblockchainassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Coinbase-Amicus-Brief.pdf">Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation</a>, and influential venture capital firms like <a href="https://api.a16zcrypto.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/a16z-TC-Van-Loon-Amicus-Briefing.pdf">Andreessen Horowitz</a> and <a href="https://policy.paradigm.xyz/actions/bittrex-amicus-brief">Paradigm</a> routinely file amicus briefs. Support can come in the form of financial resources, but can also include donating expert analysis and knowledge of key technical issues. 



And if amicus briefs aren’t your thing, you can support industry defendants directly. For example, many smaller entities or individuals face lawsuits from powerful regulators and cannot afford a robust legal defense. We all benefit when those defendants are represented by good lawyers who will accurately describe the technology at issue. Individual legal battles, even at the district court level, can be very important. 



While it&#8217;s possible that one case in one district court can be limited to its facts and not technically set a precedent for courts outside that district, the reality is that a bad legal outcome in one case may be cited by government regulators or out-of-district judges. This sort of outcome can impact our entire industry. Some groups are already working to support industry defendants directly; for example, the <a href="https://fortune.com/company/investor/" target="_blank">Investor</a> Choice Advocates Network is <a href="https://wxknp-zgpm.campaign-view.com/ua/viewinbrowser?od=3z912158b693ddd1828822d6980412408cbe043b7fdad0056ffef25acf10bc4ad1&amp;rd=1e65fbaac24337b9&amp;sd=1e65fbaac24335b9&amp;n=11699e4bf9e9dd9&amp;mrd=1e65fbaac24335a7&amp;m=1">starting to take pro bono clients</a> in SEC actions. I am sure they could use more resources to do so.



While we wait for Congress to legislate, we should take advantage of every opportunity to educate courts about technology and weigh in on the most important legal questions facing our industry. One of the crypto ecosystem’s greatest strengths is being able to marshal an indirectly connected but ideologically aligned group toward collective global action.



The crypto industry’s recent momentum has been driven by thousands of conversations around the core tenets of our legal rights. Proactively engaging with the courts through amicus briefs or providing resources to defendants is something the industry should do much more of in 2024. Lobbying and marketing are valuable, but being a friend of the court might be more so.



Amanda Tuminelli is chief legal officer at the DeFi Education Fund, where she leads the organization&#8217;s impact litigation and policy efforts. The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.</div>

Lobbying and marketing can help crypto, but so can the courts.

Learn more about all things crypto with short, easy-to-read lesson cards. Click here for <a href="https://fortune.com/crypto/crash-course/">Fortune's Crypto Crash Course</a>.

F-Commentary

Cryptocurrency

Commentary

Regulators

You’ve got a friend in me: How amicus briefs are helping the crypto industry win over the courts | Fortune Crypto

Some Fortune Crypto pricing data is provided by Binance.

Ben Weiss

Remember MoviePass? It’s still around—and going all in on crypto

/crypto/2025/05/01/moviepass-crypto-mogul-sui-animoca-stacy-spikes/

Leo Schwartz

Exclusive: Crypto venture firm dao5 closes $222 million second fund after investments in Berachain and Bittensor

/crypto/2025/05/01/dao5-crypto-venture-capital-tekin-salimi-polychain-berachain-funding/

Catherine McGrath

Exclusive: Tokenized asset company Dinari raises $12.7 million from Hack VC and Blockchange Ventures

/crypto/2025/05/01/exclusive-tokenized-asset-company-dinari-raises-12-7-million-from-hack-vc-and-blockchange-ventures/

Sam Altman speaks on stage in Paris, France, in February.

Americans can finally scan their eyeballs for crypto in return after Sam Altman-backed World launches in U.S.

/crypto/2025/04/30/worldcoin-world-sam-altman-united-states-launch/

Robinhood CEO says firm is diversifying away from volatile crypto revenue even as Q1 earnings beat expectations

/crypto/2025/04/30/robinhood-ceo-diversifying-crypto-revenue-q1-earnings/

Chris Maurice

The U.S. dollar’s strongest ally is crypto

/crypto/2025/04/30/stablecoins-strengthen-us-dollar/

Fortune Editors

Fortune Crypto provides smart and timely news about Bitcoin, Ethereum and how startups and big companies are using blockchain to transform finance and investing.

Daily News, Analysis &amp; Price Data on Bitcoin, Ethereum &amp; More

Uncategorized

homepage

Fortune Crypto

Companies

NFTs & Culture

Latest News, Analysis, Insights &amp; Price Data on Cryptocurrencies

The Coins

https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/04/30/robinhood-ceo-diversifying-crypto-revenue-q1-earnings/?itm_source=parsely-api

Jeff John Roberts

Visa launches stablecoin payments in Latin America in major advance for crypto

https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/04/30/visa-launches-stablecoin-payments-in-latin-america-in-major-advance-for-crypto/?itm_source=parsely-api

https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/05/01/dao5-crypto-venture-capital-tekin-salimi-polychain-berachain-funding/?itm_source=parsely-api

Exclusive: Stablecoin company Zar raises $7 million in round led by Dragonfly Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and VanEck Ventures

https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/04/30/stablecoin-zar-raises-7-million-dragonfly-capital-andreessen-horowitz-vaneck-ventures/?itm_source=parsely-api

https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/04/30/worldcoin-world-sam-altman-united-states-launch/?itm_source=parsely-api

Exclusive: Unto Labs raises $14.4 million from Framework Ventures and Electric Capital

https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/04/29/unto-labs-fundraising-framework-ventures-electric-capital/?itm_source=parsely-api