On September 29, 2023, the CFTC approved a proposal to amend certain provisions of its regulations relating to commodity pools, specifically Rule 4.7. The proposal would be the first major change to Rule 4.7 in over 30...more
Last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced settled charges against three decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols for various registration and related violations under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)...more
10/16/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Default Judgment ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
Ethereum ,
Investigations ,
Settlement ,
Stablecoins ,
Swap Execution Facilities
In 2021, the U.S. enacted the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) as part of a multi‑national effort to rein in the use of entities to mask illegal activity. The CTA directs the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial...more
On July 26, 2023, the CFTC approved a proposal to amend the margin regulations for uncleared swaps (the “Proposed Amendments”). The Proposed Amendments, if finalized, would relieve registered swap dealers and major swap...more
On July 12, 2023, U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proposed a revised version of their previously introduced crypto regulation bill to create better safeguards for the crypto industry...more
8/8/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinCEN ,
New Regulations ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Notice Requirements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Risk Management
In a post-FTX environment, several financial regulators are taking action to emphasize a policy of sound custody and disclosure practices and to better understand certain risks to protect customers in the event of an...more
Over the past two months, the markets have been roiled by banks in financial distress. Some banks have received influxes of capital, while others were taken over by regulators or a competitor.
Banks and the global...more
Binance is the latest major crypto industry player to be sued by a U.S. regulator. On March 27, 2023, the CFTC announced that it had filed a civil enforcement action against Binance Holdings Limited (and related legal...more
4/7/2023
/ CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities-Backed Swap ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Assets ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Injunctions
Over the past several weeks, the markets have been roiled by banks in financial distress. Some banks have received influxes of capital, while others were taken over by regulators or a competitor. Banks and the global economy...more
On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Congress passed the CTA to...more
1/18/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
CFTC ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Corruption ,
FinCEN ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
National Intelligence Agencies ,
National Security ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Tax Evasion ,
Venture Capital
On September 22, 2022, the CFTC announced an order simultaneously filing and settling charges against bZeroX, LLC (“bZeroX”) and its creators for illegally offering leveraged and margined retail commodity transactions in...more
Economic sanctions against Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine have had a broad impact on the global economy and have raised the question of whether Russia will be able to meet its obligations on foreign denominated...more
7/27/2022
/ Bonds ,
Credit Default Swaps ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Global Economy ,
ISDA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Settlement ,
Sovereign Debt ,
Ukraine
If adopted, the proposals will likely impact market practices -
In a trinity of proposing releases rolled out in less than three months, the SEC has comprehensively proposed to regulate the use of derivatives and short...more
4/15/2022
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Derivatives ,
Family Offices ,
Financial Markets ,
Hedge Funds ,
Private Funds ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Short Sales ,
Swaps
Economic sanctions against Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine have had a broad impact on the global economy and have raised the question of whether Russia will be able to meet its obligations on foreign denominated...more
On January 3, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) entered an order charging Blockratize, Inc. (d/b/a Polymarket.com) (“Polymarket”) with offering off-exchange binary options contracts and failing to...more
1/21/2022
/ Blockchain ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Popular ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Smart Contracts ,
Statutory Violations ,
Swaps ,
Trading Platforms
On December 15, 2021 the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules requiring that large positions in security-based swaps and related securities be reported to the commission and publicly disseminated. At the same...more