A new report by LexisNexis subsidiary Lex Machina shows a sharp rise in U.S. based lawsuits mentioning bitcoin, cryptocurrency or blockchain. During all of 2017 only 15 such lawsuits were found compared to 45 in the first six months of 2018. According to the National Law Review, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was responsible for around a third of the cases brought forth so far in 2018.