On May 30, 2024, the New York State Department of Financial Services ("NYSDFS" or the "Department") issued guidance to all virtual currency businesses licensed or chartered with the Department ("VCEs"), including those...more
On May 22, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives (the “House”) passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (“FIT21” or the “Bill”) with bipartisan support by a vote of 279-136. FIT21 provides for...more
6/3/2024
/ CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
U.S. House
The National Security Division (NSD) of the Department of Justice announced a new self-disclosure policy on March 7, 2024 (M&A Policy) that impacts corporations, private equity firms, and venture capital firms and their...more
4/8/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Investors ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Policy Drafting ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Venture Capital
On February 29, 2024, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion on Sjunde AP-Fonden v. Activision Blizzard1 (“Opinion”) that called into question established market practices for mergers, including (i) the process for...more
3/12/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Buyers ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Microsoft ,
Sellers
This enduring cornerstone of Delaware corporate law is rooted in Section 141(a) of the Delaware General Corporate Law (“DGCL”): “The business and affairs of every corporation […] shall be managed by or under the direction of...more
Chancellor Kathleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery grappled with this question in a recent derivative lawsuit challenging Tesla’s performance-based equity award with a potential USD55.8 billion maximum value and...more
In a milestone for the crypto industry, on January 10, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) approved the listing and trading of a number of spot bitcoin exchange-traded product (“ETP”) shares,...more
On October 13, 2023, California enacted two bills that significantly expand the regulation of virtual currency-related activities in California:
Assembly Bill 39 (AB 39), known as the California Digital Financial Assets...more
11/15/2023
/ Banks ,
California ,
CFTC ,
Credit Unions ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) ,
Liquidity ,
New Legislation ,
Private Trust Companies ,
Software ,
Stablecoins ,
Virtual Currency
On August 30, 2023, in a case of first impression, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed in full a putative securities class action against Uniswap Labs, a decentralized finance (“DeFi”)...more
9/15/2023
/ Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Class Action ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
FinCEN ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Trading
On August 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact Theory”), a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered securities...more
9/8/2023
/ Asset Purchaser ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment ,
Investment Contract ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
The Digital Euro project is the European Central Bank’s (ECB) response to the changing landscape of consumer payments, driven by the rise of cryptocurrency, payment fintechs and electronic transactions. A Digital Euro would...more
8/7/2023
/ Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda
In SEC v. Ripple Labs, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) alleges that Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered and ongoing digital asset securities...more
7/18/2023
/ Capital Raising ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Offerings ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
On January 3, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (together, the “federal banking regulators”) issued a joint...more
Recent troubles in the crypto markets are unlikely to see deal-making curtailed. Instead, digital assets, Web3 and Metaverse targets will continue to be sought after as non-tech players look to open new markets....more
With crypto winter settling in and likely consolidation of the market participants, unique and unprecedented opportunities arise to pair buyers with sellers....more
Recent turbulence in the crypto asset market and comments by certain regulators raise the critical question of what happens to crypto assets held by a crypto custodian if the custodian becomes insolvent. Custodians include...more
On June 7, 2022, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFIA), a highly anticipated legislative proposal that, if enacted by Congress and...more
As the market for NFTs continues to soar, tech and non-tech businesses alike are exploring M&A opportunities to prepare for the metaverse and Web3....more
As part of our ongoing series of virtual panel discussions exploring a select number of themes instrumental in shaping the future of the global banking sector, our next webinar will focus on digital assets. In this session,...more
4/5/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
CFIUS ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Webinars
Software-focused transactions, involving an increasingly diverse range of participants, are now dominating the technology M&A market....more
The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a long-awaited Report on Stablecoins on November 1, 2021.
...more