The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept up with their plan to increase enforcement on the sale of crypto assets in filing a complaint against Dragonchain for engaging in an unlawful offer and sale of securities in...more
On Oct. 15, 2021, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published sanctions compliance guidance for the virtual currency industry. OFAC acknowledged that virtual currencies are playing an...more
Amid increasing enforcement activity with respect to cryptocurrencies, coins and tokens, the SEC recently issued guidance intended to provide clarity to the markets. ...more
5/1/2019
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinHub ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Opportunities ,
No-Action Letters ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Token Sales
In a regulatory first, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced its 2019 examination priorities for registrants of the Division of Market Oversight (DMO), the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary...more
3/1/2019
/ CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
DMO ,
DSIO ,
Examination Priorities ,
Financial Markets ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SEFs ,
Swaps ,
Trading Plans
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) released its examination priorities for 2019 in order to promote the transparency of its investigation program....more
2/1/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Assets ,
Examination Priorities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Opportunities ,
MSRB ,
OCIE ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In a sign of continued enforcement activity involving cryptocurrency products and services, the SEC fined Zachary Coburn, the founder of EtherDelta, for operating an unregistered national securities exchange....more
12/3/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unregistered Securities
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently sided with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and decided that virtual currencies are commodities. This ruling confirms the regulator’s...more
In a regulatory first, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a cease and desist order and imposed a $200,000 fine against a hedge fund that invested in digital assets and its founder. ...more
10/1/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
Amid concerns that many investors may not fully understand the risks associated with virtual currencies, or the limits of regulatory oversight, the National Futures Association (NFA) recently issued an interpretive notice...more
9/5/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
CPOs ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Markets ,
Futures ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Introducing Brokers ,
Investment Products ,
Investor Protection ,
National Futures Association ,
NFA ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Virtual Currency
After a surge in popularity and an increased interest from regulators, virtual currencies — also known as cryptocurrencies — have entered into a new phase in their relatively short history, with an increase in class actions...more
8/3/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Class Action ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
False Advertising ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investors ,
Material Misrepresentation ,
Offerings ,
Popular ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
As part of the ongoing efforts of the federal government, agencies and financial market regulators to respond to the growing cryptocurrency market, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) of the Department of Treasury...more
The regulatory focus on initial coin offerings (ICOs) has not diminished since our last client alert where we mentioned that the public consultation of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) proposed to develop an ad...more
Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently released their respective 2018 examination priorities, providing a glimpse into their plans for the year to...more
3/2/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Capital Raising ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Funds ,
OCIE ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Secondary Markets ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
After our recent client alert summarizing recent U.S. regulatory developments in the crypto-world, the House of Representatives of the State of Wyoming passed HB 70, referred to as the “Utility Token Bill” and HB 19, known as...more
3/1/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Switzerland ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
On Feb. 6, Jay Clayton and Christopher Giancarlo, the chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), respectively, jointly testified before the Senate Banking...more
3/1/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
ETFs ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Management ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Virtual Currency
Global Regulators Increasingly Shifting Focus to Cryptocurrency -
After years of allowing cryptocurrency transactions to fly under the radar, financial market regulators are beginning to turn their attention to virtual...more
2/2/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Funds ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securitization ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Reform ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
Until recently, cryptocurrencies had largely avoided the regulatory spotlight. While financial market regulators monitored the emerging sector, they largely maintained a hands-off approach as it remained on the periphery of...more
2/1/2018
/ Asia ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Funds ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
After lingering on the periphery of financial markets for the past several years, cryptocurrency has finally started to move into the mainstream. While the explosion in Bitcoin’s value dominated the news headlines,...more
1/2/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CBOE ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency