The organizers of an initial coin offering (ICO) recently won dismissal of an investor’s fraud claims by establishing that their public risk disclosures negated the investor’s claims of reliance on alleged misstatements. The...more
2/10/2023
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Disclosure ,
Dismissals ,
Fraud ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Regulation A ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT)
The SEC’s push to regulate the next generation of blockchain-based applications will likely give rise to disputes and enforcement actions, particularly in the developing decentralized finance (DeFi) space....more
Late last year, the SEC filed a litigated action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executive officers (collectively, “Ripple”), alleging that Ripple...more
2/23/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Ether ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
Investors ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales
One driver for the first widely adopted cryptocurrency Bitcoin was to create a store of value that existed outside of government control. It is therefore no surprise that attempts to regulate the rapidly developing crypto...more
1/8/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FinCEN ,
HMRC ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
International Tax Issues ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
An increasingly sophisticated and active OCIE division, innovative market disruptors, a maturing credit cycle, and a philosophical change in how the private fund industry views and utilizes litigation are likely to lead to...more
2/21/2019
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fund Managers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Litigation Funding ,
OCIE ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales
Fund managers take note – after over a year of warning, this month the SEC announced a pair of settlement orders with respect to registration requirements for a fund and broker dealer operating in the crypto and digital...more
The SEC announced a pair of settled orders on Tuesday extending additional provisions of the securities laws over ICOs and other digital assets – the agency’s first ever enforcement actions of their kind. As the SEC has been...more
9/17/2018
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investment Contract ,
Investors ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales
Last week, former CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler explained in remarks at M.I.T. that he believes the second and third most widely used virtual currencies—Ether and Ripple—may have been issued and traded in violation of securities...more
5/1/2018
/ CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fund Managers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
OCIE ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
With the public equity markets at an all-time high and private equity fund raising setting new records, it might seem counter-intuitive to forecast litigation and regulatory risks. The opposite is true. Disputes typically...more
2/13/2018
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
CTFC ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Popular ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Unicorns
In his recent remarks at the Securities Regulation Institute, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton had some stern words for market professionals, especially lawyers, involved in initial coin offerings (ICOs). He expressed concern that...more
1/23/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
No blockchain phenomenon has garnered more attention lately than Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs"), which have exploded in value and raised more than $1.2 billion thus far this year....more