The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Settlements Timeline serves as an interactive compilation of select CFTC guidance, enforcement actions, and speeches relating to the application of the federal securities laws...more
The Digital Asset SEC Timeline serves as an interactive compilation of select SEC guidance, enforcement actions, and speeches relating to the application of the federal securities laws to digital assets. Beginning with the...more
During a speech in San Francisco last week at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, William Hinman, Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), provided some welcome...more
6/25/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Certificate of Deposit ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Ether ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investment Contract ,
Investors ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales
On February 6, 2018, the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs conducted a hearing entitled “Virtual Currencies: The Oversight Role of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S....more
2/7/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
FSOC ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
IOSCO ,
Jurisdiction ,
New Guidance ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency
On June 30, 2017, the SEC and the U.S. Attorney brought parallel civil and criminal fraud charges against Renwick Haddow, the owner of an unregistered broker-dealer entity named InCrowd Equity Inc., and two corporate entities...more
7/14/2017
/ Asset Freeze ,
Bitcoin ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Financial Crimes ,
HSBC ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
U.S. Attorney ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Unregistered Brokers
The New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) released its revised proposed BitLicense regulatory framework earlier today. Once the revised framework is published in the New York State Register, it will...more
The U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, has issued several recent statements signaling a steady pursuit of criminal conduct related to bitcoin. First, on Thursday, November 6, 2014, Trendon...more
In another installment of the continuing saga surrounding the shuttering of the Silk Road online marketplace and arrest of its alleged creator and operator, Ross William Ulbricht (Ulbricht), a Southern District of New York...more
The virtual currency industry is in the news once again following the October 1, 2013, Federal Bureau of Investigation’s shutdown of the “Silk Road” website. As part of the shutdown of the well-known underworld bazaar, the...more
Riding the coattails of an August 6, 2013 federal court ruling that alleged Ponzi-schemer Trendon Shavers’ Bitcoin-based investment scheme constituted an investment contract, and therefore a “security” under the federal...more
In response to the SEC’s first civil complaint arising from online virtual currency trading, alleged Bitcoin Ponzi schemer Trendon Shavers recently challenged the district court’s authority to hear the case. ...more
On July 23, 2013, the SEC ventured into the electronic currency world by filing a civil complaint against virtual currency “trader” Trendon Shavers and his company, Bitcoin Savings and Trust, in the U.S. District Court for...more
Asset Seizures and Arrests Mark Recent Federal Virtual Currency Enforcement Actions -
Federal authorities have initiated several recent enforcement actions that are indicative of continuing regulatory changes in the...more