In the latest stunning development in crypto policy, one of the industry’s largest exchanges is facing potential charges from the SEC. Coinbase, Inc. said on March 23, 2023, that it had received a “Wells Notice” from the U.S....more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released its much-anticipated rule amendments regarding the use of trading plans by insiders. On Dec. 14, 2022, the SEC finalized amendments to Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities...more
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR SIGNALS A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO MANAGING CRYPTOCURRENCY MARKETS -
In the evening hours of Friday, Sept. 23, California Gov. Gavin Newsom quietly dispatched a controversial bill that sought to establish a...more
10/7/2022
/ Blockchain ,
California ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Governor Newsom ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Legislatures
PROPOSAL FORECASTS GREATER REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE ASSETS -
On July 12, 2022, the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. (“NASAA”), an organization representing state securities regulators, released a...more
Recently, Gurbir Grewal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s director of the Division of Enforcement, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and...more
NFTs—or Non-Fungible Tokens—continue to raise new legal questions, particularly involving intellectual property rights and the enforcement of those rights against bad actors....more
NFTs—or “nonfungible tokens”—are everywhere. What was once seen as a collectors’ item for crypto geeks and LeBron James TopShop fanatics is now gaining popularity with a much wider audience. Take the recent example of the...more
3/2/2022
/ Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Markets ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Tax Planning ,
Trademarks ,
Virtual Currency
NFTs are one of the hottest new technology trends of this year. An NFT—or Non-Fungible Token—is a digital certificate, typically encrypted and verifiable on the blockchain. Few have escaped the NFT headlines over the last few...more
On March 20, 2019, the United States Supreme Court held that a foreclosure law firm principally involved in conducting nonjudicial foreclosures (such as Colorado’s foreclosure process) is not covered by the federal Fair Debt...more
With a new Congress comes new oversight priorities. Private companies could find themselves under the legislative microscope after Democrats seized control of the House for the first time since the 2006 midterm elections.
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On Sept. 28, 2018, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill (“SB”) 838 and Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2658, which together will spur more innovation in and adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. More...more
On Sept. 26, 2018, Judge Rya Zobel, of the United States District Court of Massachusetts, held for the purposes of ruling on a pretrial motion that all crypto or virtual currencies are “commodities,” regardless of whether the...more
The price of bitcoin is down nearly 80 percent since January 2018. Many other cryptocurrencies are down with it and investors are bearish about the future of digital assets. Atop such industry concerns, three recent...more
9/17/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Misrepresentation ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kokesh v. SEC provides the defense bar with significant ammunition to argue for lower monetary sanctions in securities enforcement matters pending in federal district courts. In...more
One of the cornerstones of the Republican platform during the 2016 elections was to undertake a major overhaul of the Dodd-Frank Act, the landmark Obama-era law that spurred over 22,000 pages of new regulations and...more
From March 19–22, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) hosted its Annual Compliance & Legal Society Seminar in San Diego, California. This seminar is the top conference for financial...more
The materiality of misrepresentations and omissions in securities fraud litigation is a complex but critical issue. For several reasons, defendants sometimes give this element of a securities claim less at tention than it...more
On Dec. 6, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-awaited decision in Salman v. United States, upholding a “friends and family” insider-trading conviction and effectively overruling the Second Circuit’s decision in...more
On June 9, 2016, the SEC announced a $17 million whistleblower award to “a former company employee whose detailed tip substantially advanced the agency’s investigation and ultimate enforcement action.” This is the...more
On May 6, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a merger between Zale Corporation (“Zales”) and Signet Jewelers Limited (“Signet”) when it affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a shareholder class action that sought to...more
Given the security industry’s increased use of information technology and the constant evolution of cyber threats, cybersecurity will continue to demand significant attention from regulators and industry participants in the...more
Newly proposed reforms to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) disclosure regime would have a dramatic impact on public companies’ current disclosure obligations.
Last week during her keynote at the 48th...more
It is no secret that when a public company announces a merger, lawsuits follow. There is nothing inherently wrong with this phenomenon. If the merger price is woefully unjustifiable or if shareholders are not given adequate...more
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck attorneys recently worked with staff in the Denver Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to negotiate both a proffer agreement and a cooperation agreement on...more