On April 10, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) issued a statement expressing its views about the application of certain disclosure requirements under the federal securities laws to offerings and...more
The Division of Corporation Finance (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued two statements regarding whether certain tokens, or arrangements involving tokens, constitute “investment...more
In this latest issue of The Entrepreneurs Report, we’ve compiled a range of data on venture, convertible note, and SAFE financing transactions in which the firm was involved during 2024, with the objective of identifying...more
The lead of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) new Crypto Task Force (Task Force), Commissioner Hester Peirce, recently laid out principles for how the Task Force will approach regulation and provided a...more
In this issue of Wilson Sonsini's Focus on Fintech, our attorneys discuss updates and developments from federal regulators, including those related to bank-fintech partnerships, cryptocurrency and virtual currency updates,...more
12/17/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
A pair of recent rulings from the Southern District of New York (SDNY) have potentially increased confusion around the regulatory status of crypto asset regulation—but may also provide some interesting signs of what’s to...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released its Illicit Finance Risk Assessment of Decentralized Finance (Assessment). This Assessment, part of a broad regulatory scrutiny of entities that...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a new form of “Cash Management” exemptive order under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act) on April 3, 2023. The approved order allows the company that...more
With the announcement of charges against and a settlement with two subsidiaries of a prominent crypto exchange, Kraken, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to have a new target within the blockchain...more
Welcome to Wilson Sonsini’s Focus on Fintech newsletter. This quarterly newsletter provides ongoing analysis and commentary on regulatory developments impacting the fintech industry.
The third quarter of 2022 has been a...more
11/2/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Payment Systems
The Rule Proposal Would Clarify Which Market Participants Are Engaged in Buying and Selling Securities for Their Own Account "as Part of a Regular Business" and Are Subject to Dealer Registration Requirements....more
The global NFT (non-fungible token) market now is worth dozens of billions of dollars annually. Innovators and early adopters, marketplaces, and sellers, are all eager to join this market but may have questions about how to...more
5/24/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Virtual Currency
President Biden launched an effort to establish a federal digital assets policy strategy and coordinate the related work of federal regulators by signing the Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital...more
3/16/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investor Protection ,
Investors
The qualities of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including digital scarcity, immutable persistence, and transferability on a blockchain, make NFTs an attractive technology to integrate into video games. NFTs have been implemented...more
2/11/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Markets ,
Gaming ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Sales Tax ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Currency
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently won a high-profile victory when a federal court held that there is a substantial likelihood that the SEC will prevail at trial in proving that "Grams"—the digital asset...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) mission has three principal components: investor protection; maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitating capital formation.2 The SEC’s regulation of...more
Until September 30, 2019, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) enforcement actions in the crypto industry conveyed a consistent message: most crypto is a security, and if a token issuer does not follow the registration...more
10/18/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Penalties ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation A ,
Regulation D ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement Offer ,
Token Sales
This white paper discusses considerations related to conducting a token offering under Regulation A under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). The benefit of this strategy is that it can allow broad...more
10/2/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Offering Statements ,
Public Offerings ,
Regulation A ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
White Papers