The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance on May 9, 2019, underscoring the application of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations relating to money...more
5/22/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
ATMs ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Casinos ,
Compliance ,
Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exemptions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Money Transfer ,
New Guidance ,
Payment Processors ,
Peer-to-Peer ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Trading Platforms ,
Virtual Currency
Through two publications on April 3, 2018, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission provided greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to blockchain-based “digital assets.”1 While the Staff...more
In SEC v. Blockvest, Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California enjoined Blockvest, LLC (“Blockvest”) from proceeding with a planned initial coin offering (ICO) of its “BLV” token....more
2/26/2019
/ Cryptocurrency ,
FRCP 11 ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Offerings ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
Over the past two years, prices for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have experienced extreme gains and declines, while billions of dollars have been raised through Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”). In this dynamic...more
2/1/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Disgorgement ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FinCEN ,
FinHub ,
Fraud ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investors ,
Misleading Statements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Startups ,
State Regulators ,
Token Sales ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Utility Tokens
For years, regulators around the world have struggled with whether and how to police the offering and exchange of digital assets (including virtual currencies such as Bitcoin). In the United States, such efforts were stymied...more
12/17/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Blocked Person ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
FinCEN ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Assessment ,
SDN List ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced two settled enforcement actions on November 16, 2018, imposing registration requirements and civil penalties against issuers of initial coin offerings (ICOs) for failing...more
12/6/2018
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement ,
Unregistered Securities
With soaring cryptocurrency prices attracting significant new investment in late 2017, U.S. regulators sought to fill the statutory void by exercising jurisdiction over a variety of digital assets. That trend continued in the...more
6/28/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Public Offerings ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Securities Regulators ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The staff of the Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets (collectively, Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 7, 2018 jointly issued a statement on digital asset trading platforms...more
3/28/2018
/ Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investor Protection ,
Investors ,
Market Participants ,
Personal Liability ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) scored a victory in its effort to assert jurisdiction over portions of the cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICO) markets last week, as a federal district judge...more
3/26/2018
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
CPO ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fraud ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency
On December 11, 2017, SEC Chairman Clayton issued an important public statement outlining his views on cryptocurrencies and ICOs. In his statement, Chairman Clayton provided a clearer view of the SEC’s stance and offered the...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently taken several actions to make clear that it is focused on and actively monitoring the rapidly growing market for so-called “token sales” or “initial coin...more
9/13/2017
/ Capital Formation ,
CFTC ,
Crowdfunding ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hackers ,
Information Reports ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investigations ,
Investment Funds ,
Investor Protection ,
Popular ,
Pump and Dump ,
Registration Requirement ,
Risk Alert ,
Scams ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Transactions ,
State Securities Claims ,
Token Sales