This BitBlog summary focuses on the continuing actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) against the issuers of noncompliant initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) and other crypto related transactions including...more
10/29/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Default Judgment ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
ETFs ,
Ether ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Fund Managers ,
Hong Kong ,
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Regulation A ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
Five years or so years ago, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) provided its first, and until this week, only formal advice on the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions in Notice 2014-21. This guidance, while helpful in...more
10/22/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Capital Gains ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Transactions ,
Future Tax Treatment ,
Guidance Update ,
Income Taxes ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Virtual Currency
This summary covers the last two weeks which includes news about continued enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) involving fraudulent digital asset transactions, dismissal of a securities...more
10/2/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ether ,
Extortion ,
FBI ,
Financial Transactions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Innovative Technology ,
Investment Adviser ,
Legal Opinion ,
Offerings ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Rewards Programs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Startups ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Brokers ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
This week’s summary includes updates on anti-money laundering in the crypto-friendly nation of Malta and a proposal to regulate cryptocurrency miners in the United States to help stop human trafficking....more
9/18/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Mining ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
France ,
Gold ,
Human Trafficking ,
IMF ,
International Finance ,
Malta ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Startups ,
Strategic Planning ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The Polsinelli BitBlog Weekly Update begins with the U.S. Securities and Exchange (“SEC”) settlement with an issuer of securities, who managed to both illegally offer securities, and create an unlicensed exchange to trade...more
9/11/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bad Faith ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Transactions ,
FINMA ,
Illegal Trading ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Pyramid Schemes ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Strict Compliance ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Policies ,
Willful Violations
This week saw two items of note in the regulation of digital assets and both came out of the state of New York.
The Return of the Empire State -
A New York State Supreme Court ruled that it has personal and subject...more
8/27/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Blue Sky Laws ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
ETFs ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Injunctions ,
IRS ,
Martin Act ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
NY Supreme Court ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
State and Local Government ,
State Attorneys General ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Tax Liability ,
Virtual Currency
On July 26, 2019, the IRS announced that it was in the process of sending letters to over 10,000 taxpayers with a history of cryptocurrency transactions by the end of August, noting that the letters were sent to taxpayers...more
8/24/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns
Last week was a busy one for the SEC, and other crypto related litigation. That’s probably all we’re going to get while the battle between regulators and token issuers rages on, as Congress is not in session and many in the...more
The end of July saw continued regulatory activity in the digital assets space. This entry of BitBlog will cover some of the highlights.
1) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) continues to dole out bits of...more
8/12/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinTech ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Mt.Gox ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
UK
As the summer continues to heat up so does the digital asset industry with two major developments.
The Libra announcement last month represented a milestone in the cryptocurrency industry....more
Despite the growth of crypto-currencies in number and use, relatively little guidance has been provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to date related to the federal income taxation of such crypto transactions. ...more