James Holbein

Picture of James Holbein

James Holbein

Of Counsel
Futuristic digital coin representing stable cryptocurrency and the GENIUS Act.

GENIUS Act and the Emerging Architecture of Digital Payments

July 31, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group and Justin Holbein, American Digital Assets Consulting LLC

The GENIUS Act has authorized several regulatory agencies to issue regulations to develop the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework governing payment stablecoins in the United States. The statute directs multiple federal financial regulators to implement a coordinated supervisory structure governing issuance, reserve management, redemption rights, anti-money laundering compliance, custody, and market structure.

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Iran and USA flags painted on fists facing each other.

The Iran War: A New Shock to Global Trade

July 30, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, and Francesca Jaubert, Summer Law Clerk, Braumiller Law Group

The war with Iran is being fought with missiles, aircraft and naval forces, but some of its most consequential effects are disruptions impacting energy markets, international shipping, insurance, supply chains, and prices, while adding another layer of sanctions and tariff risk to international trade. The result is particularly significant because the Strait of Hormuz, at the center of the conflict, is one of the most important arteries in world commerce.

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Trusted legal partnership symbolized by a handshake with American flag and cracked earth background.

Joint US-EU Action Plan & MOU for Critical Mineral Supply Chain

June 9, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, and Francesca Jaubert, Summer Law Clerk, Braumiller Law Group

Global reliance on critical minerals for emerging technologies has created a competition between nations to secure reliable supply chains for continued innovation pertinent to national security. This is necessary from a national security perspective for both partners in this agreement.

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Secure digital currency concept with holographic coin and futuristic interface.

Agencies Request Comments on GENIUS Act Implementation

June 9, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group and Justin Holbein, American Digital Assets Consulting LLC

The GENIUS Act has authorized several regulatory agencies to issue regulations to develop the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework governing payment stablecoins in the United States. The statute directs multiple federal financial regulators to implement a coordinated supervisory structure governing issuance, reserve management, redemption rights, anti-money laundering compliance, custody, and market structure.

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AI Legislation

AI Legislative Framework Proposed by the White House

March 31, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group

On March 20, 2026, the Trump Administration announced that it, “is committed to winning the AI race to usher in a new era of human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security for the American people.“ The White House issued a new comprehensive national legislative framework that addresses six key objectives.

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IEEPA

Supreme Court Clarifies Separation of Powers in IEEPA Tariffs Decision

March 31, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group

In the final analysis, this case stands as one of the most important separation of powers decisions in the economic domain in U.S. history. It clarifies that tariffs are a form of taxation reserved to Congress, embeds the major questions doctrine in trade law, and reasserts the structural boundary between legislative and executive authority.

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DAO and stablecoin

Integrating DAOs and DUNAs with Stablecoin Ecosystems

February 1, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group and Justin Holbein Web3 Developer

We have analyzed Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and how the GENIUS Act will permit regulation of payment stablecoins in prior articles. This article examines how decentralized organizations interact with stablecoin ecosystems and the synergies between organizational and payment infrastructure innovation.

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Haiti

Renewal of Haiti HOPE/HELP and AGOA Trade Preferences Up to Senate

February 1, 2026

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group

In its usual fashion, Congress has allowed the tariff preferences for Haiti under the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to expire on September 30, 2025. Two bills passed the House with bipartisan majorities on January 12, 2026, to renew the tariff preferences retroactively to the date of expiration and then extend them to September 30, 2028. Both bills are now in the Senate Finance Committee awaiting action. This article examines the current status and likely outcomes of Senate review.

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stablecoin

Activating HTTP 402: The x402 Protocol and Legal Framework for Internet-Native Stablecoin Payments

November 30, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group and Justin Holbein Web3 Developer

The convergence of payment stablecoins, blockchain settlement infrastructure, and the regulatory clarity provided by the GENIUS Act of 2025 has created conditions for HTTP 402’s activation. The x402 protocol, developed by Coinbase in collaboration with Cloudflare and others through the x402 Foundation, operationalizes this long-reserved status code to enable instant, automated payments: particularly for autonomous AI agents conducting machine-to-machine commerce.

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critical minerals

Critical Minerals Focus of White House Trade Agreements in 2025

November 30, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group

The Trump Administration is pursuing a new style of trade management based on use of tariffs to rectify trade deficits and to set new “reciprocal” tariff rates to level the playing field for all of its trading partners. Critical minerals are a key component of the strategy, because the U.S. is heavily dependent of foreign sources for most of the critical minerals used in modern manufacturing. In response to Trump-imposed tariffs and threats of other trade actions, China has repeatedly used export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals as leverage. This article looks at the current state of critical minerals trade actions, starting with new US agreements with multiple trading partners, then reviewing international norms and proceeding through other trade actions involving critical minerals.

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Stablecoin

Wyoming Laws More Crypto-Friendly with Issuance of State Stablecoin

September 28, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group and Justin Holbein Web3 Developer

On August 29, 2025, Wyoming made history becoming the first state in the United States to issue its own stablecoin, the Frontier (FRNT) token, marking a groundbreaking moment in state-level cryptocurrency adoption. Wyoming’s pioneering move represents more than just technological innovation. It signals a fundamental shift in how states can leverage blockchain technology with robust legal frameworks to modernize their financial infrastructure and maintain competitive advantages in the evolving digital economy.

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keeps tariffs

Unconstitutionality of IEEPA Tariffs Upheld – Supreme Court to Review

September 28, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group

On May 28, 2025, a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled in two cases (VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump and the State of Oregon v. Trump) that the Presidential actions taken under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. §§ 1701–1707) to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China for illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling are unconstitutional. The CIT said that the tariff actions did not directly address the declared emergency and were not delegated by Congress to the Executive Branch and therefore exceed the President’s tariff setting authority under the Constitution.

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stablecoins

GENIUS Act Establishes Legal Framework for Payment Stablecoins

August 1, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group and Justin Holbein Web3 Developer

The President signed into law the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025’or ‘‘GENIUS Act of 2025’” (the Act) on July 18, 2025. The new law establishes a basis for regulators to permit a variety of bank and non-bank entities to issue payment stablecoins that will be used for payments and reserves for a variety of purposes. This analysis covers the major provisions of the new law.

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tariffs

Trade Letters and Tariff Deals – What Is Going On?

August 1, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel, Braumiller Law Group

Since taking office on January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration has undertaken an aggressive trade policy that has impacted, and will continue to impact, all countries trading with the US. Many of the actions seek to reverse the established principles of trade policy that have been supported by both political parties, enshrined in the rules of international agreements and organizations, and regulated by executive branch agencies since the end of World War II.

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Tokenization Rulebook

The Tokenization Rulebook: Compliance Strategies for the Digital Asset Revolution

June 9, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel and Justin Holbein

Since Bitcoin’s creation in 2008, cryptocurrencies and traditional assets have largely existed in parallel. In our previous exploration of Real World Assets (RWAs) (Assessing the Benefits and Challenges of Tokenizing Real World Assets, February 7, 2024), we identified how the lack of reliable bridges between on-chain and off-chain ecosystems has constrained the transformative potential of blockchain technology.

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ieeepa tariffs legal decisions

Tariffs Legal Decisions Under IEEPA Raise Constitutional Issues for Circuit Courts

June 9, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel

Several lawsuits challenging the legal validity of the tariff actions taken by President Trump since he took office on January 20, 2025, are in process of moving through the federal courts. They raise a variety of important jurisdictional and constitutional questions and seem poised to lead to challenges in federal circuit courts and the Supreme Court.

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2025 tariff wave

Surviving the 2025 Tariff Wave: A Strategic Guide for U.S. Importers

April 7, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel

The first quarter of 2025 has reshaped the U.S. trade landscape with a flurry of executive actions by the Trump administration, introducing a new wave of tariffs on imports from almost all U.S. trading partners. The Trump Administration has also levied broad duties on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, on the basis of emergency powers of the Executive Branch, citing national security, border control, and illicit drug interdiction.

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Tariff Rationale

2025 Trade Policy Agenda Provides Rationale for Trump Tariff Actions

April 7, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel

On March 3, 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the 2025 Trade Policy Agenda and 2024 Annual Report on the Trade Agreements Program. The report outlines the rationale of the Trump Administration for its trade policy goals and actions. It complements and expands on the America First Trade Policy Executive Order and also encompasses the massive imposition of tariffs by the President on April 2 in his so-called “Liberation Day” Executive Order and Fact Sheet.

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bitcoin

Security for New Bitcoin Strategic Reserve

April 7, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel and Justin Holbein

On March 7, 2025, the White House hosted a Digital Assets Summit to celebrate the creation of a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve and a Digital Assets Stockpile by an Executive Order titled, “Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile“. The Executive Order recognizes that “The Bitcoin protocol permanently caps the total supply of bitcoin (BTC) at 21 million coins, which is critical to its value proposition as a scarce asset.

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coercion in international trade

Is Coercion the Best Approach to North American Trade?

February 10, 2025

By: James R. Holbein, Of Counsel

The Trump Administration has demonstrated a willingness to apply new tariffs to goods entering the U.S. as a viable tactic under its America First strategy to achieve greater fairness in its dealings with other countries. The application of tariffs is authorized under a number of standard legal procedures, such as trade remedy investigations to mitigate dumping of goods at less than fair value into the U.S. market or eliminating the unfair price advantages of government subsidies, and use of section 301 duties to respond to unfair trade practices by other countries. However, the broad-brush use of tariffs to coerce our trading partners to make concessions in non-trade areas to resolve a domestic crisis is relatively new.

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