Navigating 2025: Federal Legislative and Regulatory Updates on Stablecoins and Decentralized Finance — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Compliance Tip of the Day: Use of Blockchain in Compliance
Unpacking the Fifth Circuit's Landmark Tornado Cash Decision — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
A Conversation with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce
Navigating the Dark Side of Crypto: Crime, Compliance, and Consumer Protection – The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Crackdown on DeFi? An Examination of the CFTC's Enforcement Action Against Uniswap — The Crypto Exchange
Hot Topics in International Trade, Wyoming, Blockchain, Crypto, and the Current Landscape of Regulations
Ep. 11 - Crypto & Consumer Protection: Insights from a Former FTC Official
The Current State of Web3 Gaming
From Court to Code: Smart Contracts and Arbitration
Powering Sustainable Crypto: A General Counsel’s View
From Paper to Digital: The California DMV's Leap Into Blockchain Technology — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Nation: A Government Insider’s View
Dogecoin’s Day in Court
A Tale of Two Crypto Cases
Unpacking the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act: Implications for the Digital Asset Industry — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Navigating the Regulatory Waters: The SEC's Wells Notice to Uniswap and its Impact on DeFi — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Will Resiliency Carry the Digital Asset Sector Through 2024: Navigating the 2023 Regulatory Landscape — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Understanding the CFPB's Proposed Digital Payments Larger Participants Rule and Its Implications for Digital Assets — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Hot Topics in International Trade-The Mod Act
The Guidance provides the Division’s views regarding certain disclosure requirements under Regulation S-K, specifically with respect to disclosures contained within Form S-1 (registration statements), Form 10-K (reporting...more
On April 10, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a staff statement (the “Statement”) titled “Offerings and Registrations of Securities in the Crypto Asset Markets.” This development underscores the...more
The SEC’s effort to revamp the SEC’s approach to crypto assets and the blockchain industry is well underway. After forming a Crypto Task Force in the week of the administration, the SEC has been gathering input on the future...more
Last year, the House passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT 21) to close gaps created by current laws that did not anticipate the emergence of digital assets. FIT 21 seeks to divide...more
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
The lead of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) new Crypto Task Force (Task Force), Commissioner Hester Peirce, recently laid out principles for how the Task Force will approach regulation and provided a...more
On May 22, 2024, with bi-partisan support, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4763, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (“FIT21”), becoming the first major cryptocurrency legislation to...more
On, May 22, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4763, Financial Innovation for Technology for the 21st Century Act (“FIT21”). The legislation was touted by the House Financial Services Committee’s Chairman,...more
On February 9, 2023, the SEC announced that Kraken had settled charges alleging that it violated securities laws by failing to register the offer and sale of its “crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.” To settle the...more
On February 9, the Federal Reserve released its hypothetical scenarios for its 2023 bank stress tests, and on February 10, the OCC also released hypothetical economic and financial market scenarios to be used by covered...more
Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention of Bitcoin in 2009 opened the door to rethinking the way value can be transferred and stored. However, crypto markets have long been considered by most analysts and attorneys as the “Wild West” of...more
On Dec. 8, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporate Finance (the Division) posted a sample comment letter (the Letter) on its website that provides guidance to public companies regarding the...more
In recent years, innovation in the blockchain or “Web3” space has been impacted by uncertainty on the regulatory front. Undoubtedly, the greatest area of uncertainty has involved the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and...more
What is Tokenization? Tokenization is the process of converting an asset into a token on the blockchain. It operates by dividing—or fractionalizing—the ownership of an asset (whether the asset is a piece of real estate or...more
In This Issue. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a new initiative focused on financial issues faced by rural communities and also updated its examination procedures to cover unfair discrimination; the...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
Federal Regulation Actions Frozen Pending Review from New Administration - On January 20, 2021, newly inaugurated President Joe Biden issued a memorandum to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies asking current...more
On March 2, Orrick had the pleasure of hosting SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce for a fireside chat discussion at our San Francisco office on the state of blockchain and cryptocurrency, the emerging regulatory landscape and her...more
In This Issue. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a new guide to help financial technology companies and others partner with banks; the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it...more
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce continues to be one of the most vocal persons in leadership positions at federal regulators who are promoting innovation in digital currency and the blockchain....more
Recently, the SEC’s Office of the Investor Advocate released its report on its fiscal 2019 activities. The report cites staffing challenges that have impaired the ability of the SEC’s Ombudsmen to respond to matters brought...more
During the previous quarter, the SEC proposed new rulemaking to reduce the number of smaller companies that become subject to enhanced reporting requirements through “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer” status....more
U.S. Developments - Blockstack Files With SEC for Regulation A+ Token Sale - Blockstack, the New York-based blockchain software provider, has announced that it intends to make a $50 million token offering that would use...more
U.S. Developments - Regulatory Updates - CFTC Issues Customer Advisory Urging Public to Use Caution When Buying Virtual Currencies - On July 16, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued...more
In its latest effort to combat scams in the initial coin offering (ICO) space, the SEC announced today that it has obtained a court order cutting off AriseBank’s ICO of “AriseCoin” tokens, appointing a receiver over AriseBank...more