The Knesset approved a series of legislative amendments this past July designed to promote competition in the money market – money market mutual funds, deposits and government bonds (short-term loans maturing in less than one...more
9/3/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Israel ,
Israel Securities Authority (ISA) ,
Money Market Funds ,
Mutual Funds ,
Professional License ,
Retail Investors ,
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)
The international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently issued two announcements updating the list of countries and jurisdictions at high risk of money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing, and...more
In recent years, a new field called “prop trading” has emerged. It enables traders to trade financial products such as stocks, commodity bonds, cryptocurrencies, CFDs, and forex products without using their own money, but...more
7/22/2024
/ Capital Markets ,
CFTC ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Forex ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Israel ,
Israel Securities Authority (ISA) ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Trading Platforms
Non-EU or non-MiCA compliant entities that want to offer or provide crypto-asset services to clients in the EU must be aware of the newly drafted guidelines from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The...more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved the applications of 11 asset and investment management firms to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track bitcoin on the spot market. This event heralds...more
This past August, the US Securities and Exchange Commission took enforcement action against Impact Theory, a US media company that sold NFTs called “KeyNFTs.” It filed a second enforcement action shortly thereafter, against...more
The Israel Securities Authority recently promulgated its revised legislative proposal addressing the applicability of securities laws to digital assets. The proposed legislation aims to determine how securities laws will...more
A US court recently handed down a landmark ruling addressing the question of whether the crypto token XRP falls under the definition of “security”. The US court ruled that the same crypto token may be classified differently...more
8/7/2023
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Howey ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investment Contract ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Token Sales
As part of the Arrangements Law for the years 2023-2024, the Israeli government makes extensive reference to expanding and creating a regulatory infrastructure in the digital assets field. As part of the draft bill (also...more
The Israel Securities Authority is proposing to apply the same laws to digital assets as apply to financial assets, which are under the ISA’s supervision. The legislative amendments include revisions to definitions of the...more
2022 was a turbulent year for the cryptocurrency sector, with one of the worst bear markets ever recorded and the collapse of several major cryptocurrency platforms. The breaking of Terra’s UST stablecoin peg caused a domino...more
Last August, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Torando Cash, a decentralized crypto mixing service. A month later, another US regulator, the CFTC, imposed a $250,000 fine on Ooki DAO, citing various regulatory violations,...more
The Israeli Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority (CMISA) recently published drafts of two important circulars regulating financial asset service providers, including provisions regarding protection of virtual...more
Institutional investors, corporations, exchanges, individuals, and crypto miners all have strong demand for crypto custody services, as provided by special market participants. These services intend to safeguard customers’...more
7/21/2022
/ Bitcoin Mining ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Custody ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insolvency ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investors ,
Israel ,
OCC ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Authority
A few days ago, the SEC has charged a former employee of OpenSea (the largest NFT marketplace) In the first-ever digital asset indictment. SEC charged him with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to...more
The Bank of Israel is proposing to regulate the provision of services to licensed cryptocurrency service providers (i.e., exchange platforms). The purpose of the proposal is to ensure banks are not able to sweepingly refuse...more
1/11/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Action Task Force ,
Israel ,
Payment Systems ,
Permits ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Tax Certificates
For the first time, companies providing virtual currency services will be required to comply with Israeli anti-money laundering provisions. This follows an amendment to the Prohibition of Money Laundering Order that recently...more
While Israel’s banks are in no hurry to accept the blockchain industry and are avidly trying to keep their distance from cryptocurrencies, this is not the case elsewhere. Recently, the major global securities, derivatives and...more
The Tel Aviv District Court (Economics Department) recently handed down a ruling in the Ceragon Networks Ltd. case. The ruling states that dual-listed companies may face exposure to lawsuits based on the liability rules under...more
6/22/2021
/ Class Action ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Liability ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Israel Securities Authority (ISA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Listing Standards ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities Violations ,
Stock Exchange ,
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)
Over the past year, raising capital through SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) has become a hot trend on Wall Street. A SPAC is a company with no business operations formed solely to raise capital through an IPO...more
The Israel Securities Authority recently established guidelines on when a cryptographic currency (token) is considered a security. The ISA determined that Kirobo tokens meet the definition of a security. This is primarily...more
The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is still the most well-known application of blockchain. However, this technology has since rapidly evolved and expanded in many other areas. The initial hope with Bitcoin was to make both...more
10/19/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Financial Institutions ,
Institutional Investors ,
Israel ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Securities Tokens ,
Token Sales
The Israeli Securities Authority has announced that distribution entities now may be liable for the contents of a prospectus. In a staff position paper published in late July, the ISA changed the rules of the game in the...more
Prompted by the use of digital currencies to fund terror and other illegal activity, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority has published a document aimed at assisting financial bodies and law...more
7/6/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FATF ,
Financial Transactions ,
Law Enforcement ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency
After Libra, Facebook’s ambitious global digital currency venture, faced fierce resistance from regulators around the world, Facebook has announced “Libra 2.0.” The venture is set to undergo far-reaching changes that, on the...more