This periodic bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets. While the use cases for blockchain...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
Latham & Watkins has collaborated with ConsenSys to launch the Automated Convertible Note to help startups raise capital using a traditional financing instrument with an eye toward a future distribution of tokens. In...more
In Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. My Big Coin Pay, Inc., — F. Supp. 3d —, 2018 WL 4621727 (D. Mass. Sept. 26, 2018), the Massachusetts District Court determined that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)...more
The ongoing debate on whether virtual currencies with certain characteristics should be classified as commodities subject to regulation and enforcement by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the focal point...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
In a series of 2015 decisions, the CFTC determined that virtual currency is a commodity subject to its jurisdiction. In a 2016 settled enforcement action, the CFTC took the position that an unregistered platform...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
Campbell’s Soup CEO Denise Morrison retired abruptly late last Friday. Though the company’s stock has struggled in the past year, Morrison gave no reason for stepping down—a move that drops the number of female chief...more
A federal court this week found that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had jurisdiction to regulate a cryptocurrency business, raising the possibility of jurisdictional tension among the CFTC and other...more
On October 17, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) newly formed financial technology (fintech) innovation group, LabCFTC, released its first fintech primer, “A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies” (VC...more
1. Question: What is the Volcker Rule, and when does it take effect? Answer: The Volcker Rule was enacted into law as section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank...more