Cryptocurrency Litigation: Case Types, Segments, and Court Trends at a Glance

In our previous exploration of the cryptocurrency litigation landscape, we identified the players and markets driving the industry’s disputes. Now, our latest data uncovers how those disputes are unfolding in courtrooms across the country, spanning class actions, securities claims, and consumer protection suits. The picture that emerges is one of a fast-evolving industry coming into legal maturity, where innovation increasingly meets accountability.

Let’s take a look at the data to see exactly what segments, suits, and courts are dominating the docket.

Q: What’s the overall picture of cryptocurrency litigation in 2025?

A: The pace and breadth of crypto litigation have accelerated dramatically over the past few years. Our latest review captures 308 total cases spanning everything from securities enforcement actions to intellectual property disputes.

The majority of these cases involve digital wallets and exchanges (117 cases) and peer-to-peer payment apps (104 cases), which encompass platforms that sit at the intersection of consumer access, financial regulation, and data security. Smaller but growing areas of focus include crypto ATMs (24), mining rigs (16), hardware wallets (10), and NFT marketplaces (5).

The result is a litigation landscape that mirrors the evolution of the digital economy itself: complex, interconnected, and increasingly governed by overlapping regulatory bodies.

Q: Which case types are most common?

A: Class actions lead the pack with 101 total filings, making up roughly a third of all crypto-related cases. These collective suits frequently allege false advertising, data misuse, or security breaches against leading exchanges and wallet providers.

Consumer protection claims are a close second, totaling 79 cases. Many of these involve disputes over transparency in trading practices or the recoverability of lost funds.

Additionally, securities litigation continues to expand alongside heightened enforcement of token offerings and DeFi products, underscoring how blurred the line has become between traditional investments and emerging crypto assets.

Beyond these dominant categories, the data reveals steady growth in contract (39) and intellectual property disputes—including patent (17) and trademark (16) cases—suggesting that as crypto companies mature, they are encountering the same IP and commercial challenges as other tech-driven industries.

Q: How do different industry segments stack up?

A: Litigation remains heavily concentrated in software-driven sectors. Digital wallets, exchanges, and P2P payment platforms together represent over 220 cases, reflecting their role as both access points for users and targets for enforcement.

Meanwhile, hardware-related cases (50 total), including those involving mining rigs, hardware wallets, and payment terminals, are gaining traction as the market diversifies beyond purely digital infrastructure.

At the margins, NFT marketplaces and DeFi platforms remain emerging hot spots. Although they collectively account for just a handful of filings today, these sectors are generating novel legal questions about ownership, smart contracts, and governance that could shape the next phase of crypto litigation.

Overall, the imbalance between software (248 cases) and hardware (50 cases) highlights where most of the risk lies: in the code, not the components.

Q: Which courts are seeing the most crypto litigation?

A: The Northern District of California (77 cases) and Southern District of New York (63 cases) dominate the crypto docket, together representing nearly half of all filings nationwide. These courts continue to serve as the epicenters of both the fintech and securities enforcement ecosystems.

California’s concentration reflects Silicon Valley’s role as a launchpad for wallet providers, DeFi projects, and blockchain developers. New York’s prominence, meanwhile, stems from its deep ties to financial regulation and enforcement.

Other active jurisdictions include the Central District of California (18 cases), Northern District of Illinois (15), and Southern and Middle Districts of Florida (11 each), covering regions where crypto payment and remittance businesses have surged in popularity.

Q: How has case volume evolved over time?

A: The upward trend is unmistakable. After single-digit filings in the early 2010s, cryptocurrency litigation began accelerating around 2018, spiking sharply through 2023 and 2024 and maintaining momentum in 2025.

Class actions alone grew from fewer than five cases a decade ago to nearly 30 in 2023, with sustained volume this year. Similarly, consumer protection and securities cases have risen in tandem, indicating a market-wide maturation of both products and plaintiffs’ strategies.

In short, as crypto markets scale and diversify, litigation is following suit: with courts now treating these cases as a regular feature of the commercial landscape rather than a niche anomaly.

Q: What trends should industry stakeholders be watching?

A: Three developments stand out for the year ahead:

1. Cross-border enforcement and remittances – As crypto payment systems go global, regulators and courts are grappling with jurisdictional overlaps and extraterritorial enforcement challenges.
2. Hardware accountability – As adoption of mining rigs and hardware wallets grows, manufacturers are facing more claims tied to product defects and operational failures.
3. DeFi and token governance – Decentralized platforms are testing the limits of liability and disclosure obligations, pushing courts to define who, or what, is responsible when code governs the transaction.

Each trend reinforces a single theme: cryptocurrency litigation is no longer experimental. It’s becoming institutionalized, tracked, and strategically navigated across multiple areas of law.

Expert Teams in Cryptocurrency and Financial Technology

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