While the nation was preoccupied with the significant developments in the Presidential race, advocates and promoters of the blockchain ecosystem were particularly attentive to the news, given the perception that the current...more
In 2013, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) started publishing the General Disclosure Statement for Transactions document (“General Disclosure”) with annexes containing disclosures of risks that are...more
In its last regulatory action for 2022, on December 23, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) published its staff no-action letter No. 22-21 (“NAL”) allowing commodity brokers – Futures Commission Merchants...more
On 14 September 2022, K2 Integrity hosted a webinar on considerations in the digital assets space. K2 Integrity Board Member Christopher Brummer and AML/CFT experts Mariano Federici and Alex Levitov discussed the current...more
On September 15, 2022, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (the “Ag. Committee”) held a hearing to discuss Senate Bill 4760, titled the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022 (the “Bill”)...more
Proposed amendments are intended to reduce regulatory burden by aligning over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives data reporting requirements with international standards developed by the Committee on Payments and Market...more
Tokenization - Tokenization limits the exposure of sensitive information and makes digital transactions more secure. Whether people realize it or not, millions of Americans already use tokenization technology on a daily...more
Developments continue at a frenetic pace in the crypto industry. Issues barely on the radar screen 18 months ago have come front and center in today’s headlines. Areas with relatively small market capitalizations a year ago...more
We all have been following the rapid growth of cryptocurrency and the creation of lucrative trading platforms. Cryptocurrency has earned the scrutiny of regulators and criminal prosecutors – not for run-of-the-mill fraud...more
The CFTC recently joined the host of other federal and state regulators who enforce anti-money laundering laws, by bringing three cases finding violations of CFTC Regulation 42.2. Regulation 42.2 requires futures commission...more
While the world at large shelters in place due to COVID-19 legal and regulatory activity of digital asset and the blockchain world is hopping. ...more
Strikeout for Bitcoin ETF - Another ETF bites the dust. On February 26th the SEC rejected the application of NYSE Acre for the approval of an exchange traded fund sponsored by the New York firm of Wilshire Phoenix to...more
BROKER-DEALER - SEC Proposes to Require Proposed NMS Plan Fee Amendments to Follow Public Notice, Comment and Approval Procedure - On October 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed an amendment to...more
SEC/CORPORATE - SEC Adopts Additional Rules for Security-Based Swaps - On June 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a panoply of final rules dealing with the following aspects of the regulation of...more
Latham & Watkins has collaborated with ConsenSys to launch the Automated Convertible Note to help startups raise capital using a traditional financing instrument with an eye toward a future distribution of tokens. In...more
New York regulators continued an aggressive approach against certain entities engaged in virtual currency businesses when the state's Attorney General’s office obtained an ex parte order precluding companies associated with a...more
In Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. My Big Coin Pay, Inc., — F. Supp. 3d —, 2018 WL 4621727 (D. Mass. Sept. 26, 2018), the Massachusetts District Court determined that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)...more
Roundup of CFTC Resources - U.S. Developments - Cryptocurrency and the Colorado Money Transmitter License Act - On September 20, 2018, following months of consultation with the Colorado Attorney General’s office,...more
The ongoing debate on whether virtual currencies with certain characteristics should be classified as commodities subject to regulation and enforcement by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the focal point...more
After Bitfinex, the CFTC issued its Proposed Interpretation on “Retail Commodity Transactions Involving Virtual Currency.” Proposed Interpretation, 82 Fed. Reg. 60335 (CFTC Dec. 20, 2017). Although the comment period closed...more
In a series of 2015 decisions, the CFTC determined that virtual currency is a commodity subject to its jurisdiction. In a 2016 settled enforcement action, the CFTC took the position that an unregistered platform...more
The 2011 Dodd-Frank Act amended the CFTC’s jurisdiction to authorize regulation of “retail commodity transactions offered ‘on a leveraged or margined basis, or financed by the offeror, the counterparty, or a person acting in...more
New Appointments to the SEC and CFTC Have Their Eyes on Virtual Currency - The U.S. Senate voted this week to confirm Dawn Stump (R) and Dan Berkovitz (D) as commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
Despite the recent setback of having their Bitcoin ETF rejected by the SEC for the second time, the Winklevoss brothers remain undeterred in their efforts to bring cryptocurrency into the investment mainstream. Their...more
...Favoring cryptocurrency regulation is really something when you consider that slightly more than a decade ago in 2008, the creator of Bitcoin proposed the system for electronic transactions as one that didn’t “rely on...more