The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published official translations of its guidelines on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of cryptoassets as financial instruments under Article 2(5) of...more
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
Stablecoin, Wallet Products Launch; German Bank Launches Crypto Services - Circle, a global fintech firm and issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has announced new smart contract functionality to allow holders of BUIDL, a...more
The Mexican Congress has approved a bill regarding promissory notes, negotiable instruments and other financial transactions using electronic means. On March 26, 2024, a decree was published in the Official Journal of the...more
While the blockchain universe continues to expand, the direction and pace of its development will continue to be influenced by a number of variables – including financial markets, regulatory environments and politics. While...more
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) published its annual Risk Review this past Monday, providing an overview of banking conditions for 2022 through early 2023. The FDIC started providing Risk Reviews to the...more
Law Decree implementing EU Regulation 2022/858, containing urgent provisions on issuance and circulation of financial instruments in digital form, was published in the Official Gazette on 17 March 2023. It provides for the...more
The U.K. government has published its much-anticipated proposals for regulating the cryptoasset industry. These proposals, currently in the form of a consultation, will see many (but not all) cryptoasset-related activities...more
Innovate Finance and Shearman & Sterling has submitted a comprehensive evidence paper to the House of Commons Treasury Committee inquiry into crypto-assets. Analysis produced by Innovate Finance specially for the...more
The battle over blockchain technology and digital assets bears a striking resemblance to the debate over the potential of the internet in the mid-1990s. Where critics see a passing fad with little actual utility or a lawless...more
On 19 January 2022, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a consultation paper (CP22/2) (the “Consultation”) setting out its proposals to strengthen its financial promotion rules for high-risk investments...more
The interagency "policy sprints" are designed to give banks guidance on how to navigate crypto-assets moving forward. On November 23, 2021, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance...more
In Mary Poppins the magical nanny tells the children in her charge that “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” In the spirit of helping the medicine of regulation go down, the FSB has published for consultation 10...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
Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of...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