On August 28, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an enforcement action against Impact Theory, LLC, alleging that Impact Theory’s public sale of approximately $30 million in crypto assets violated...more
On July 21, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil enforcement action alleging that from at least June 2021 to April 2022, the three named defendants orchestrated and perpetrated an insider...more
8/11/2022
/ CFTC ,
Coinbase ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Wire Fraud
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement action in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas charging Cornelius Johannes Steynberg and Mirror Trading International...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency industry when it issued a $1.25 million settlement order with Kraken, one of the industry’s largest market participants. The next day,...more
10/4/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
U.S. Treasury
On August 10, 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the US District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order against HDR Global Trading Limited, 100x Holding Limited,...more
8/12/2021
/ CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The SEC Division of Corporate Finance recently issued a no-action letter to Pocketful of Quarters, confirming that the Division will not recommend any enforcement action if the company sells its blockchain-based tokens...more
8/12/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Division of Corporate Finance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinTech ,
Howey ,
No-Action Letters ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Tokens ,
Token Sales
A recent complaint concerning KIK Interactive Inc. filed in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York reveals some SEC priorities for cryptocurrency enforcement actions. The complaint indicates that the SEC...more
6/13/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
In its long-awaited guidance, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission recently provided a lengthy list of factors to consider when determining whether an initial coin offering (ICO) is a security. While the...more
4/10/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Internet Retailers ,
Investment Contract ,
Investors ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The SEC Divisions of Corporation Finance, Investment Management, and Trading and Markets recently issued a statement addressing the SEC’s recent digital asset securities actions. This statement confirms the applicability of...more
In two recent enforcement actions, the SEC looked past formal offering documents and cited statements made on Reddit, YouTube and other social media to determine that the AirFox and Paragon ICOs were unregistered sales of...more
US regulators have stepped up their activity in terms of enforcing the regulation of virtual currencies and on September 11, 2018, issued four relevant decisions: FINRA’s first disciplinary action involving cryptocurrencies;...more
Proceeds from ICOs topped $5 billion in 2017, $1 billion of which originated in the United States. Since blockchain technology has a variety of applications and blockchain tokens may have a variety of characteristics, it is...more
The Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance William Hinman gave a speech in which he discussed whether a digital asset originally offered as a security can become something other than a security over time. The...more
US state and federal regulators recently offered carrots to guide market actors toward better behavior and are using the stick of enforcement actions to discourage fraud in ICOs and other cryptocurrency-related offerings....more
Trading venues for blockchain tokens and other digital assets, such as exchanges and alternative trading systems and other liquidity providers are becoming subject to increased regulatory scrutiny from both federal and state...more
As US regulators have been active in terms of virtual currency regulation, there are three important updates to which attention should be paid. The New York State DFS guidance, the FinCEN letter to Senator Wyden and the...more
3/27/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Department of Financial Services ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
Fraud Prevention ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Market Participants ,
Money Transmitter ,
New Guidance ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virtual Currency
As 2017 fades in the rear view mirror of the speeding car that is blockchain, five significant regulatory issues will likely be speedbumps for blockchain tokens in 2018. Pundits spend much time talking about blockchain tokens...more
The SEC has recently taken significant public steps in the regulation of token sales (popularly known as initial coin offerings, or ICOs) relating to blockchain. While the SEC Guidance provides clarity for critical points and...more
On October 17, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s LabCFTC released “A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies.” The Primer provides an overview or virtual currencies and their potential uses, discusses the role of...more