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 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