Morrison Cohen Client ICON Foundation Concludes Significant Legal Case Involving 75 Million ICX Token Burn
Morrison Cohen represented ICON Foundation in a significant legal matter before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, successfully concluding a five-year legal battle. ICON Foundation, a Swiss foundation established to develop and support the ICON Network – a blockchain protocol for decentralized applications – pursued the case after a user maliciously exploited a software bug in the Network 557 times, generating nearly 14 million new ICX tokens.
On August 15, 2025, the Court awarded ICON Foundation all requested legal fees and ordered the conversion and destruction of the seized assets into ICX. Over a two-month period, a court-appointed receiver managed the conversions, and on July 18, 2025, over 75 million ICX were sent to a designated burn address, permanently removing those tokens from circulation.
This resolution sets an important precedent for future cases in which tokens are returned from a third party who improperly obtained them.
Jason Gottlieb and Michael Mix represent ICON Foundation, along with attorneys from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP.
The case was recently featured in CoinsHolder. Read more here.
Contacts
- Jason P. Gottlieb Partner & Chair, Digital Assets; Chair, White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement
- jgottlieb@morrisoncohen.com
- Michael Mix Partner
- mmix@morrisoncohen.com
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