The current SEC administration has expressed the view that most crypto assets are offered and sold as securities and has proposed several rules that address “digital asset securities” or “crypto asset securities.” In this...more
DeFi development carried quietly on throughout 2023, but DeFi protocols also faced significant hurdles. In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) increased their...more
Priorities Echo Prior Alerts and Enforcement Actions - The SEC’s Division of Examinations (the “Division”) released on October 16 a report on its “Examination Priorities” (the “Report”) for fiscal year 2024. This release...more
In April 2023, the SEC re-proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 to expand the definition of what it means to be an exchange. When the SEC initially proposed these amendments in January 2022, there were zero direct...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposes to amend Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (Reg SCI) to update and expand the regulatory oversight of the core technology of the U.S. securities markets.1 The...more
On April 14, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reopened the comment period on proposed amendments to Rule 3b-16 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) (the “Amendments”). The...more
This OnPoint summarizes the panel discussion at Dechert’s annual investment funds conference that took place in Luxembourg in the last quarter of 2022. At the conference, we discussed the Regulation on the Markets of Crypto...more
Recently, the SEC published a proposed new regulation (the “Proposed Rule”) to amend the definition of an “exchange” for purposes of the Securities Exchange Act. Any person whose conduct meets the Proposed Rule’s new...more
The SEC Division of Examinations recently published its list of priorities for 2022. While it was a bit late compared to a typical year, the priorities letter provides a roadmap for firms to better understand where the...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) has released a proposal to amend Exchange Act Rule 3b-16, Regulation ATS, and Regulation SCI. Criticized by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce as “too wide-ranging”...more
The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry has developed over the past decade with a large and increasingly glaring void: What regulations ultimately will apply and who will regulate the space? Much regulatory focus to date...more
The amended definition could provide a new means for the SEC to regulate crypto platforms. We previously published a blog post on the set of proposed amendments (Proposal) issued on January 26, 2022, by the Securities...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued proposed amendments to the Securities Exchange Act (the “Exchange Act”) that would significantly broaden the definition of “exchange” for purposes of...more
The proposal would require certain systems and platforms currently not subject to any registration requirements to register as broker-dealers and ATSs. On January 26, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed a sweeping expansion in how it defines securities exchanges to capture digital asset platforms, request-for-quote platforms, indication-of-interest platforms (IOI),...more
In July 2017, the SEC issued its landmark DAO Report, which clarified, among other things, its view that digital tokens with characteristics akin to those of an "investment contract" as established in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co....more
On January 26, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule (Proposed Rule) amending - and significantly broadening - a rule that defines certain terms used in the statutory definition of “exchange.”...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant changes to the regulation of securities trading systems that use non-firm trading interest and alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade government...more
On January 10, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) announced it settled charges in In re tZERO ATS, LLC, No. 93938 (SEC Order Jan. 10, 2022) (“Order”)....more
In This Issue. The Board of the Governors of the Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve) proposed a new supervisory framework for certain holding companies engaged in insurance activities; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...more
2022 was billed as the year regulation will descend on the cryptocurrency (“crypto”) and decentralized finance (“DeFi”) spaces. While it seems regulation may indeed be coming, it initially appears to be buried in lengthy...more
The SEC's Proposal - On January 26, 2022, the SEC released a rulemaking proposal that, among other things, would expand the definition of "exchange" under Rule 3b-16 of the Exchange Act. ...more
On January 26, 2022, the SEC proposed rule changes that would greatly expand the scope of Regulation ATS, the regulatory regime that governs alternative trading systems (“ATSs”). The proposal focuses on four main changes: ...more
A significant expansion of rules relating to cybersecurity risks - particularly for the financial sector - is under consideration by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In public remarks last week, SEC Chair...more
On January 26, 2022, the SEC proposed rule changes that would greatly expand the scope of Regulation ATS, the regulatory regime that governs alternative trading systems (“ATSs”). Applicability to the fixed income markets was...more