The rising prevalence of crypto and virtual currencies has invited the scrutiny of several regulatory bodies who continue to grapple with the unique challenges posed by blockchain technology, FinCEN being one prime example....more
10/4/2022
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
California ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FinCEN ,
In-Game Purchases ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Transmission Act ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Software Developers ,
Virtual Currency
A class action lawsuit filed by users of a decentralized finance (“DeFi”) protocol managed by a decentralized autonomous organization, or “DAO,” may shed light on the potential legal liabilities of a DAO and its...more
“NFT” was 2021’s word of the year. This isn’t too surprising—they’re everywhere! The market cap for NFT transactions jumped from roughly $400 million at the beginning of 2021 to over $7 billion by year’s end. What’s next...more
A couple rejected a refund settlement offer from the IRS over its tax treatment of tokens they earned from mining. Instead, the couple has sought formal adjudication on the issue from the federal courts. The government has...more
On March 9, President Biden signed a highly anticipated executive order outlining his administration’s cryptocurrency policy. We have previously blogged about the Biden administration’s working group on stablecoins and the...more
3/10/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Federal Reserve ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
Virtual Currency
FinCEN has issued a notice that it intends to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding reports of foreign financial accounts (FBAR) to include virtual currency as a type of reportable account...more
A Washington state federal court recently addressed claims relating to rates that cryptocurrency mining companies pay for electricity in Grant County, Washington. The court rejected all of the miner’s legal claims. The...more
According to a recent report, the new chair of the CFTC, Heath Tarbert, has declared that he believes that ether is a commodity. He also anticipates ether futures trading on U.S. markets in the near future. The CFTC has...more
Last week we reported that FinCEN had issued new guidance addressing cryptocurrency and other convertible virtual currency. The need for compliance was reinforced this week. In a speech by Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for...more
5/15/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Services Business ,
Money Transmitter ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Virtual Currency
FinCEN has issued updated guidance addressing the use of crypto currency and other convertible virtual currency (CVC). A portion of this guidance addresses the use of CVC in games. The guidance does not establish any new...more
FinCEN has issued 2 new guidance documents addressing cryptocurrency and other convertible virtual currency (CVC). The guidance does not establish any new regulatory expectations. Rather, it consolidates current FinCEN...more
A new bill, the Token Taxonomy Act was introduced to congress to amend the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to exclude digital tokens from the definition of a security, to direct the Securities...more
Recently, there has been a frenzy of legal activity with U.S. gambling laws and the number of gambling-related legal issues with video games. U.S. gambling laws have changed more in the past few years than they have in a long...more
9/14/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Casinos ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
eSports ,
Fantasy Sports ,
Gambling ,
Game of Skill ,
Games of Chance ,
Internet ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Gaming ,
PASPA ,
Sports Betting ,
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Currency ,
Virtual Goods ,
Wire Act
The regulatory landscape surrounding cryptocurrency continues to evolve. Most of the activity to date has involved regulatory enforcement actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Commodity Futures...more
8/27/2018
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Fraud ,
Jurisdiction ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Popular ,
Standing ,
Virtual Currency
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has indicated that nearly all initial coin offering (“ICO”) filings they have seen are securities offerings. Based on this expansive view, it may be more likely to...more
8/24/2018
/ Accredited Investors ,
Blockchain ,
Class Action ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Form D Filing ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
The Major League Baseball Players Association (MBLPA) signed an exclusive deal with the crypto-collectibles startup, Player Tokens. This is believed to be the first professional athlete-based crypto-collectible offering. The...more
The SEC has been busy over the past couple of weeks addressing blockchain and crypto-related issues.
ETF Activity -
The SEC rejected, for a second time, a request by the Winklevoss brothers for a Bitcoin exchange-traded...more
Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines have been updated to address various aspects of crypto currency. Some of the relevant provisions include the following.
One of the provisions relates to prevents an app from including...more
7/13/2018
/ App Store ,
Apple ,
Banks ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Mining ,
Financial Institutions ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Currency
Churchill Downs has filed a Petition For Rehearing En Banc, seeking to overturn the Ninth Circuit decision in the Big Fish case. As we previously reported, The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s...more
We previously reported, that the Belgian Gaming Commission has recommended criminal prosecution against certain game companies due to the allegedly illegal use of loot boxes. This report follows previous reports on findings...more
The use of blockchain technology for crypto games and token-based digital collectibles is on the rise. One of the first crypto games of note was CryptoKitties. It may turn out that CryptoKitties becomes to crypto games what...more
5/11/2018
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
FinCEN ,
Gambling ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Money Transmitter ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Currency
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s dismissal of a purported class action and held that a social casino game constituted illegal gambling under Washington law. According to the Court, all online or...more
3/30/2018
/ Appeals ,
Casinos ,
Class Action ,
Dismissals ,
Gaming ,
Illegal Gambling ,
Mobile Apps ,
Reversal ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Transaction Fees ,
Transfer Fees ,
Virtual Currency
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s LabCFTC recently released, “A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies.” This primer provides an overview of virtual currencies and their potential use-cases, helps outline the CFTC’s role...more
10/31/2017
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
LabCFTC ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
China has put a halt to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) in China. In a recent notice, China declared ICOs to be an illegal fund raising tool and indicated it is reviewing previous ICOs for possible fraudulent practices. Money...more
As the collective market cap of the cryptocurrencies has jump above $150 billion, traders and investors have accumulated significant gains. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Internal Revenue Service is stepping...more