Saying the word "crypto" will get a visceral reaction in many circles, and if you say you still believe in the future of crypto, you have a high likelihood of being blacklisted. I get it. It has been a tumultuous 16...more
In his famous 2018 speech, William Hinman, Digital Asset Transactions: When Howey Met Gary (Plastic), the Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), asked...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
Key Takeaways - According to sources with firsthand knowledge, the SEC is conducting an industry-wide inquiry into alleged insider trading activities of cryptocurrency exchanges. Insider trading occurs when a corporate...more
On June 7, 2022, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act (the “Act”), a comprehensive legislative scheme for the regulation of...more
A draft report on the impact of crypto and blockchain on taxation was tabled before the European Parliament sub-committee on tax matters on 25 April 2022. The draft report consists of a motion for a European Parliament...more
This article is the fifth in a multi-part series in which we explain how the SEC has structured its anti-cryptocurrency campaign, why the SEC has over-reached its regulatory authority in attacking the creators of digital...more
Danger signs abound - Despite its volatile and speculative nature, a single bitcoin is trading at around $61,134 (11/5/21.) Demand is growing exponentially, despite multiple danger signs. ...more
Whether a cryptocurrency product is a security is an issue with serious regulatory consequences. In recent years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has taken a broad position that various crypto assets are...more
The California Department of Financial Protection is warning consumers that "companies that may be engaging in unlicensed activity and/or falsely advertising cryptocurrency products and services"...more
On Sept. 14, Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, testified before the Senate Banking Committee that the agency has authority using the existing, “broad” definition of a “security” to regulate the...more
Developments continue at a frenetic pace in the crypto industry. Issues barely on the radar screen 18 months ago have come front and center in today’s headlines. Areas with relatively small market capitalizations a year ago...more
A recent trend in the blockchain business, and particularly among cryptocurrency companies, is to seek tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). Brink Technology, Inc., a Bitcoin...more
Strikeout for Bitcoin ETF - Another ETF bites the dust. On February 26th the SEC rejected the application of NYSE Acre for the approval of an exchange traded fund sponsored by the New York firm of Wilshire Phoenix to...more
The G20 has urged countries to adopt the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, which were adopted in June last year. ...more
Many crypto entrepreneurs are seeking to build decentralized networks in which a token serves as a means of exchange on, or provides access to a function of the network. In the course of building out the network, they need...more
There exists no uniformity with respect to how businesses that deal in virtual currencies (also known as "cryptocurrencies") such as Bitcoin are treated among the states....more
Roundup of CFTC Resources - U.S. Developments - Cryptocurrency and the Colorado Money Transmitter License Act - On September 20, 2018, following months of consultation with the Colorado Attorney General’s office,...more
After Bitfinex, the CFTC issued its Proposed Interpretation on “Retail Commodity Transactions Involving Virtual Currency.” Proposed Interpretation, 82 Fed. Reg. 60335 (CFTC Dec. 20, 2017). Although the comment period closed...more
The 2011 Dodd-Frank Act amended the CFTC’s jurisdiction to authorize regulation of “retail commodity transactions offered ‘on a leveraged or margined basis, or financed by the offeror, the counterparty, or a person acting in...more
This is Part 3 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies. ...more
New Appointments to the SEC and CFTC Have Their Eyes on Virtual Currency - The U.S. Senate voted this week to confirm Dawn Stump (R) and Dan Berkovitz (D) as commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
This is Part 2 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies. State and federal regulators, especially the SEC, have moved aggressively to halt unregistered initial coin...more
SEC Bars Perpetrator of Initial Coin Offering Fraud - On August 14, 2018, the SEC obtained permanent officer-and-director and penny stocks bars against David T. Laurance of Tomahawk Exploration LLC (“Tomahawk”), who...more
...Favoring cryptocurrency regulation is really something when you consider that slightly more than a decade ago in 2008, the creator of Bitcoin proposed the system for electronic transactions as one that didn’t “rely on...more