The number of investor-led class-action lawsuits in the US relating to crypto and artificial intelligence is already nearing the total filed in all of 2024.
Cornerstone said in a report on Wednesday that AI and crypto were the top trends in complaints in the first half of 2025, with 12 AI-related filings and six crypto-related filings, which are both just shy of the total number of similar complaints filed across the whole of last year.
This is despite the total number of securities class actions filed by shareholders claiming losses remaining flat in the first half of 2025, with 114 new lawsuits compared to 115 filed in the last half of 2024.
The report shows aggrieved investors are still taking civil action against crypto companies even if US agencies, including the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, have wound back their crypto enforcement under President Donald Trump.
Crypto class actions near 2024 total
Cornerstone said that 2024 saw seven crypto-related class lawsuits, with the six filed so far this year marking a significant increase set to surpass last year’s total.
Of the six filings, half were against a crypto issuer, while one complaint was against a crypto miner. Two of the filings were complaints against what Cornerstone called a “cryptocurrency-adjacent company,” such as those selling mining rigs, attempting to enter crypto or partnering with crypto companies.
Complaints around Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), which take over companies to bring them public, were also on a noted uptrend. Source: Cornerstone Research
Half of the crypto-related complaints filed so far this year were by the law firm Burwick Law, with two notable lawsuits being its complaint against Pump.fun and those allegedly behind the controversial LIBRA memecoin.
Burwick Law founder Max Burwick told Cointelegraph that civil actions, especially those related to crypto, “often provide a vital path to accountability when other remedies have yet to catch up.”
Related: Coinbase sues man using a Coinbase-like URL to make money
Of the remaining filings, two were headed by Pomerantz LLP, while one was filed by Glancy Prongay & Murray.
“AI-washing” a key driver of related lawsuits
The report said that the dozen AI-related filings in the first half were closing in on the 15 total filed last year, with Stanford law professor and former SEC Commissioner Joseph Grundfest saying that showed the big trends were “the dollars at risk and AI.”
“ChatGPT explains the increase in AI-related securities litigation as ‘primarily driven by the phenomenon known as ‘AI washing’ — where companies exaggerate, misrepresent, or falsify the extent or significance of their AI capabilities to investors and the public. This often results in legal claims when the truth is revealed and investors suffer losses,” Grundfest said.
“I have nothing else to add to this AI explanation of AI litigation,” he added.
Magazine: Meet lawyer Max Burwick — ‘The ambulance chaser of crypto’
