In this latest issue of Wilson Sonsini's Focus on Fintech newsletter, we discuss the FTX bankruptcy and the increased federal regulatory scrutiny of crypto assets, and new rules and innovations in the payments...more
2/1/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK
Welcome to Wilson Sonsini’s Focus on Fintech newsletter. This quarterly newsletter provides ongoing analysis and commentary on regulatory developments impacting the fintech industry.
The third quarter of 2022 has been a...more
11/2/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Payment Systems
It is highly likely, and hardly a surprise, that in the near future the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") will increase the number of enforcement actions it brings against crypto industry participants. It is...more
7/28/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment Adviser ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens
In an unprecedented enforcement action, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought insider trading charges against a former Coinbase manager and two others related to buying 25 tokens ahead of Coinbase's...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently won a high-profile victory when a federal court held that there is a substantial likelihood that the SEC will prevail at trial in proving that "Grams"—the digital asset...more
Imagine a blockchain promoter offers to sell virtual currency that will be developed in the future and allows purchasers to put down a small amount of the purchase price now and pay the rest later, with delivery to...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) mission has three principal components: investor protection; maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitating capital formation.2 The SEC’s regulation of...more
Until September 30, 2019, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) enforcement actions in the crypto industry conveyed a consistent message: most crypto is a security, and if a token issuer does not follow the registration...more
10/18/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Penalties ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation A ,
Regulation D ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement Offer ,
Token Sales
This white paper discusses considerations related to conducting a token offering under Regulation A under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). The benefit of this strategy is that it can allow broad...more
10/2/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Offering Statements ,
Public Offerings ,
Regulation A ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
White Papers
Happy New Year from all of us in the WSGR Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Practice Group! The industry learned a lot about the regulation of digital assets in 2018, and we published some of our observations about those...more
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and its staff ("Staff") took a coordinated set of actions that should help further clarify its views on the application of the federal...more
In a recent article, we discussed why the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and its staff (the “Staff”) continue to think most cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets (“tokens”) are securities at the time they are...more
There apparently has been significant shock and surprise over recent reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a large number of subpoenas to initial coin offering (ICO) issuers and to ICO...more