With the European Union’s (“EU”) focus on strengthening its rules to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing, Ireland recently joined the ranks of member states who incorporated the EU’s financial crime regulations...more
On September 17, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("Notice") to obtain public comments on proposed enhancements to anti-money laundering ("AML")...more
On July 22, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) published an Interpretive Letter (the “Letter”) declaring that national banks and federal savings associations (collectively, “national banks”) may...more
7/27/2020
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
International Banks ,
OCC ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On June 24, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (the "NYDFS") announced it is considering a proposal to issue conditional licenses (a "Conditional License") for companies to begin virtual currency activities...more
On March 17, 2020, the governor of Hawaii announced a program between the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the Division of Financial Institutions (“DFI”) and the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation....more
On February 6, 2020, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce presented her proposal of a new regulatory scheme for legal ICOs in the United States (“Safe Harbor”). To date, token issuers have struggled with the U.S. Securities and...more
2/10/2020
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Blockchain ,
Digital Assets ,
Grace Period ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
New Regulations ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales
On January 14, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") issued an investor alert urging investors to use caution before investing in initial exchange offerings ("IEOs").
In contrast with an Initial Coin...more
1/23/2020
/ Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Fraud Alerts ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) ,
Investors ,
Registration Requirement ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
On December 11, 2019, the New York State Department of Financial Services ("DFS") issued two proposed changes to the regime that is in place in New York for the regulation and licensing of virtual currency ("VC") businesses....more
12/13/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
BitLicense ,
Blockchain ,
Comment Period ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Licensing Rules ,
NYDFS ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Virtual Currency
On November 18, 2019, the Chairman of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), Heath Tarbert, sat for an interview on digital assets and did something we have never seen before. He declared the winner of the...more
It is official. Finally. On October 10, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman Heath Tarbert announced that he believes ether is a commodity and thus falls under the jurisdiction of the CFTC....more
10/11/2019
/ Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Ether ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms
Really? According to the website created by Tomahawk Exploration LLC (Tomahawk), in connection with its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for its Tomahawk tokens (TOM), the ICO represented “a substantial investment opportunity . ....more
SEC Halts ICO After Finding that Tokens are Securities -
Remember in July of this year when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in its Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) Report that "U.S. federal...more
Last week, the DFS announced an enforcement action and charges against the NY Branch of Habib Bank, a Pakistani bank that had been doing business in NY for almost 40 years....more
9/2/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
Cease and Desist ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Consent Order ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Banks ,
NYDFS ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Pakistan ,
Terrorist Financing
Yesterday the Fed published a proposed guidance document for its expectations for board of directors of banks. The release only applies to the boards of banks with over $50 billion in consolidated assets, but the intent of...more
At the end of last week, the Fed and the other banking agencies issued an interpretation that applied to investments in certain foreign funds by foreign banking organizations that are subject to the Volcker rule. Such banks...more
In the wild west of token sales, that some refer to as “initial token offerings,” on July 25, the SEC finally jumped into the fray and said . . . well, actually, not that much. The SEC investigated Slock.it, a decentralized...more
Last week we told you about the five biggest pet peeves of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) when examining investment advisers. This week, we want to get you ready for your exam. Here are the...more
3/17/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cybersecurity ,
Elder Issues ,
ETFs ,
Investment Adviser ,
Money Market Funds ,
OCIE ,
Public Pension ,
Retail Investors ,
Retirement Plan ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Let’s start with this caveat: as we all know, under the still-new Trump Administration, priorities may and are likely to change. Now that we got that off our chest, it is nevertheless not the time to sit back and wait. The...more
Many Unknowns -
If you're like me, you are constantly receiving alerts from consultants, law firms, policy shops and others, all predicting how the Trump Administration is going to dramatically change, or even gut,...more