Emily Kapur Speaks at Bitcoin 2026

At Bitcoin 2026, Quinn Emanuel’s Emily Kapur joined a panel to discuss the ways in which Bitcoin and digital assets generally have gone from being ignored, to opposed, to emerging as a key component of mainstream financial infrastructure.  Emily, co-chair of Quinn Emanuel’s Blockchain and Digital Assets practice, spoke specifically about the “sea change” she has seen in the treatment of digital assets in the litigation and regulatory contexts over the last five years:

• Emily noted that judges—who in years past frequently did not know what digital assets were or associated digital assets with crime or fraud—are increasingly familiar with digital assets, often having seen several cases involving them.  Emily observed that, while there is often no formal connection between regulatory changes from the SEC, CFTC, and other federal regulators and U.S. courts’ approaches to digital asset cases or issues, judges appear to have become more accommodating of digital assets in parallel to the regulatory changes from the Biden to Trump administrations.
• Emily highlighted the relative success of the U.S. bankruptcy system in dealing with recent crises in the digital asset industry, which have generally produced higher-than-expected recovery rates for creditors without the kinds of government bailouts or widespread systemic issues associated with prior financial crises.  This success stands in sharp contrast to equivalent proceedings in other jurisdictions which have produced worse outcomes or remain unresolved after many years of litigation.
• Emily summarized the changes she has observed in the kinds of digital asset-related litigation occurring today:  the SEC enforcement defense work which was a major part of her practice just a few years ago has largely disappeared (although some state regulators remain active) and has been replaced by more traditional private litigation involving digital assets, including broken deal disputes and shareholder class actions.

You can watch Emily’s panel here.