Despite political and economic uncertainties, markets and deal activity were resilient in 2019, and strong fundamentals remain in place heading into 2020. Companies continue to face a challenging litigation and enforcement...more
1/30/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Attorney General ,
Backstop Agreements ,
BEPS ,
BitLicense ,
Blockchain ,
Board of Directors ,
Bonds ,
Capital Markets ,
CFIUS ,
CFTC ,
Chapter 11 ,
Claim Preclusion ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Common Stock ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Congressional Subpoenas ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
Copyright ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Corwin Doctrine ,
Covenant Lite Deals ,
Creditors ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
DACA ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Debt Financing ,
Debtors ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
Disgorgement ,
Disparate Impact ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Down Rounds ,
Drug Pricing ,
EBITDA ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments ,
Enterprise Act 2002 ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Issuers ,
FRCP 23 ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
General Elections ,
GILTI tax ,
High-Yield Markets ,
Hong Kong ,
Hong Kong Stock Exchange ,
Individual Accountability ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intercreditor Agreements ,
International Arbitration ,
International Litigation ,
IRS ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Japan ,
Joint Venture ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Life Sciences ,
Listing Rules ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Make-Whole Premium ,
Mergers ,
MFW ,
Multinationals ,
National Security ,
PCAOB ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Political Parties ,
Preferred Shares ,
Private Offerings ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Refinancing ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Separation of Powers ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders ,
Split of Authority ,
State Labor Laws ,
Stock Drop Litigation ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Litigation ,
Technology Sector ,
Third-Party Release Agrements ,
Transparency ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Valuation ,
White Collar Crimes
In this issue of The Distributed Ledger, we discuss the IRS' warning letters for over 10,000 cryptocurrency holders, the SEC's settlement with a blockchain company regarding unregistered ICO transactions, and a European...more
9/23/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Controller ,
Data Processors ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Ethereum ,
FinHub ,
Gaming ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
IRS ,
No-Action Letters ,
Personal Information ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) ,
Smart Contracts ,
Startups ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Warning Letters
In this issue, we examine the release of the much-anticipated Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) guidance for analyzing how U.S. federal securities laws apply to initial coin offerings, the...more
4/16/2019
/ Advertising ,
Blockchain ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
CNIL ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Default ,
Digital Assets ,
Discovery ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Division of Corporate Finance ,
Ethereum ,
EU ,
FinHub ,
France ,
Frozen Assets ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
No-Action Letters ,
NYDFS ,
Offerings ,
Payment Tokens ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Plea Agreements ,
Popular ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Profits ,
Public Comment ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Tokens ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement ,
Smart Contracts ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
In recent days, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a no-action position on enforcing its 2016 Business Conduct Standards against security-based swap dealers (SBSDs) and major security-based swap...more
11/12/2018
/ Capital Requirements ,
CFTC ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Margin Requirements ,
No-Action Letters ,
Public Comment ,
Request For Information ,
SBSD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Title VII ,
Variation Margin Requirements (VM)
This is the second edition of The Distributed Ledger, a periodic publication covering the latest trends and developments in blockchain technology, digital assets and smart contracts. In this issue, we examine the SEC’s new...more
11/8/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
CNIL ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Data Controller ,
Data Processors ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
FATF ,
FinHub ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Smart Contracts ,
Startups ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency
On June 29, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, and together the Commissions) announced that the Commissions approved a memorandum of understanding...more
7/10/2018
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Derivatives ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FX Swaps ,
Information Sharing ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swaps ,
Trump Administration ,
Virtual Currency
The market for cryptocurrencies and the current wave of initial coin offerings (ICOs) that seek to raise capital for blockchain-based projects have enjoyed a swell of popularity in recent years. U.S. regulatory agencies and...more
6/20/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Breach of Contract ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
Popular ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Unregistered Securities
Swaps transactions, virtually unregulated before the 2008 financial crisis, are regulated in the U.S. under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. Title VII empowers the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), for most swaps,...more
On August 2, 2016, federal banking regulators (Prudential Regulators) adopted a final rule (PR Margin Exemptions) implementing exemptions from the Prudential Regulators’ impending initial and variation margin requirements for...more
Recently introduced legislation suggests that Republicans and Democrats in post-election Congress will be looking in very different directions on how to amend the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act...more
7/29/2016
/ Basel III ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cross-Border ,
Derivatives ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
FSOC ,
FX Forwards ,
Political Parties ,
Presidential Elections ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swaps
Federal banking regulators (Prudential Regulators) have finalized much-anticipated rules (Final Rules) relating to initial and variation margin requirements for certain swaps and security-based swaps that are not centrally...more
11/3/2015
/ Affiliates ,
CFTC ,
Commercial End-User Exception ,
Compliance Dates ,
Covered Swap Entities (CSE) ,
Cross-Border ,
Customer Collateral Requirements ,
Derivatives ,
Final Rules ,
Investment Management ,
Margin Requirements ,
Non-Cleared Swaps ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swaps
On August 5, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final registration rules for security-based (SB) swap dealers and major SB swap participants (collectively SBS Entities). Concurrently, the SEC also...more
8/13/2015
/ CFTC ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Registration Requirement ,
SBS Entities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Threshold Requirements
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently proposed rules1 to address the cross-border application of margin requirements for uncleared swaps for swap dealers and major swap participants not subject to...more
On May 12, 2015, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued revised interpretive guidance for forward contracts with embedded volumetric optionality (EVO). In 2012, the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission...more
On April 29, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules1 that would address how registration, SEC Regulation SBSR and other SEC requirements for security-based swap transactions would apply to a...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued three releases with final and proposed regulations addressing the reporting of security-based swaps (SB swaps) called for by the Dodd-Frank Act. The regulations...more
On June 25, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the first of a series of rules and guidance that will establish how security-based (SB) swap requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and...more
On May 2, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)published in the Federal Register proposed regulations1 that would implement the recordkeeping, reporting and notification requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street...more
On April 17, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new regulations that would implement the recordkeeping, reporting and notification requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer...more
Since the enactment of Dodd-Frank in 2010, the CFTC and the SEC have proceeded at different speeds to address previously unregulated markets for swaps and security-based swaps, respectively. The CFTC moved quickly to develop...more
On May 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published in the Federal Register proposed rules and guidance for applying Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank)...more