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Federal Reserve Withdraws Crypto-Related Guidance Including Notification Requirements for Banking Organizations

The Federal Reserve Board ("Board") softened its stance on regulation of crypto activity by banking organizations by rescinding supervisory letters that created hurdles for crypto-asset activities and by joining the Office of...more

SEC Division of Corporation Finance: Certain U.S. Dollar-Backed Stablecoins Are Not Securities

As the Trump administration and Congress seek to establish clear digital asset regulation, uncertainty remains on whether federal agencies consider stablecoins to be "securities" under federal law....more

FDIC Rescinds Prior Notification Requirement for Banks' Permissible Crypto Activities

The FDIC has rescinded an earlier Financial Institution Letter establishing a prior notification requirement for FDIC-supervised institutions that wish to engage in specified crypto-related activities and has clarified that...more

Updates on Proposed Stablecoin Legislation: the GENIUS Act and the STABLE Act

As Congress moves to enact comprehensive stablecoin legislation under the Trump administration, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have updated their respective payment stablecoin bills. Our recent Commentary...more

OCC Eases Some Restrictions on Bank Digital Asset Activities

In recent years, U.S. federal bank regulators significantly limited banks' authority to engage in crypto-asset activities, including participating in public blockchains, owning digital assets as principal, and even providing...more

Stablecoin Legislation: A Stroke of GENIUS?

President Trump's recent executive order "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology" promoted the development of dollar-backed stablecoins as official U.S. policy. To facilitate this policy, Congress...more

SEC Signals It Will Abandon Defense of Climate Disclosure Rule

Acting Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or the "Commission") Chairman Mark Uyeda directed SEC staff to request that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals not schedule an oral argument in the pending litigation...more

Regulating Digital Assets: FIT21 Seems to Fit the Bill

The United States lacks a regulatory framework geared toward digital assets. This raises consumer protection concerns, causes regulatory turf battles and duplicative enforcement actions, impedes innovation, and puts the...more

Enforcement to Endorsement: Digital Asset Executive Order and SAB 121 Rescission

President Trump signed an executive order ("EO") titled "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology" that signals a radical shift in the federal government's posture towards digital assets and the...more

Unanimous Third Circuit Spurs Opportunity, Orders SEC to Justify Crypto Rulemaking Refusal

The ruling that the SEC acted arbitrarily in denying Coinbase's crypto rulemaking petition, issued in the waning days of the Gensler-era SEC, invites swift action under an Atkins-led SEC....more

Immutable Code Is Not Property: Fifth Circuit Reverses Tornado Cash Sanctions Ruling

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") exceeded the authority granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA") when it added the...more

FDIC Proposes New Requirements for Custodial Accounts to Qualify for Pass-Through

The Situation: On September 17, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") approved a proposed rule ("the Proposal") that would establish new recordkeeping requirements for FDIC-insured depository institutions...more

Second Circuit Rules U.S. Securities Laws Reach Certain Digital Asset Transactions

The Second Circuit recently revived a securities class action against the crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., holding that plaintiffs plausibly alleged their transactions on the exchange were "domestic," as required by the...more

CFPB Seeks to Expand Regulatory Powers Over Consumer Payment Tech Entities

On November 7, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") issued a proposed rule that would grant it supervisory authority over major nonbank technology companies in the consumer digital payments space....more

Much-Anticipated Tax Reporting Regulations on Digital Asset Transactions Issued

Proposed regulations addressing new tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have been issued by the IRS and Treasury....more

Grayscale Scores Win Against the SEC, but the Agency's Significant Market Test Remains Unaddressed

The D.C. Circuit rebuked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on administrative law grounds but left untouched the test the Agency used to deny proposed bitcoin exchange traded products ("ETP")....more

Ripple and Terraform Labs: Two New York District Courts Address the Status of Certain Crypto Assets as Securities

In Short - The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more

Federal Agencies Coordinate Action Against Celsius for Fraud and Manipulation

In Short - The Situation: In parallel federal actions, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC")...more

SEC Seeks Additional Comment on Whether DeFi Systems Must Register as "Exchanges"

In Short - The Situation: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") has reopened the comment period for its January 2022 proposal to amend Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 to broadly expand the...more

EU and U.S. Regulatory Sandboxes: Groundbreaking Tools for Fostering Innovation and Shaping Applicable Regulations

In Short - The Situation: Regulatory "sandboxes" are trending. They represent a unique approach to regulation that permits selected companies to test and experiment with new and innovative products and services....more

Economic Report of the President to the Crypto Industry: Thanks, But No Thanks

In Short - The Situation: For the first time, the Economic Report of the President (the "Report") includes a chapter on digital assets....more

New York Department of Financial Services Issues Guidance on Virtual Currency Custodial Services

In Short - The Situation: Following a string of bankruptcies among virtual currency firms, the New York Department of Financial Services has issued guidance on the practices and procedures it expects from certain...more

"MetaBirkins" Bagged: NFT Creator Found Liable for Trademark Infringement

In a closely watched trademark infringement case involving non-fungible tokens ("NFTs"), a jury found that the sale of digital images of Hermès's Birkin bags as NFTs infringed and diluted Hermès's trademarks....more

Fed Policy Statement Adds Hurdles to Digital Asset Activities and Innovation by State Banks

In Short - The Situation: The Federal Reserve Board ("Board") has issued a new policy statement ("Policy Statement") imposing limits, including Board approval requirements, on digital asset activities and other novel...more

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