$Trump, Crypto Stockpile, SAB 121, DeepSeek, Tornado Cash + More
Crypto in the Crosshairs: What Regulatory Themes Characterized 2020?
Cryptocurrency, Legitimate Uses, and Legal Issues
Episode 3 - The Freeman Law Project - Cryptocurrency Regulation and Taxation: A Brief Primer
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Investment Management and Private Funds Roundtable: TALF 2020 and PPP Update
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
Theoretical No More: Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrencies and the Tax, Legal and Business Implications
Stablecoin Initiatives Announced by Fintech Companies, DeFi Protocols - Major U.S. payments firm recently announced plans to enable “disbursement partners” to use the PYUSD stablecoin to settle cross-border money...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
U.S. Fintech Firm Launches Stablecoin; Circle Launches ‘Programmable Wallets’ - A major U.S. fintech and payments firm recently announced the launch of a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin, PYUSD. According to a press...more
NFTs Expand on Social Media, Celebrity NFT Endorsements Scrutinized - According to reports, one of the world’s largest social media platforms recently expanded its NFT (non-fungible token) initiative, allowing users in...more
Described as the "Wild West" by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the meteoric rise of digital assets like cryptocurrencies has disrupted the traditional financial ecosystem. The wave of enforcement actions brought by federal and...more
Not long ago, only the tech-focused were interested in cryptocurrencies and the distributed ledger technologies that make them possible. That has changed. The wins and losses of crypto investors are now center stage, as are...more
This issue discusses a variety of legal, regulatory and enforcement developments in the digital asset space in the U.S. and Europe....more
Many investors, traditional and progressive, are looking hard at cryptocurrency investments as a way to diversify their portfolios. However, there are still multiple known “unknowns” about this new market, including the...more
On January 8, 2021, Judge Richard Seeborg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an Order denying a motion to dismiss in S.E.C. v. NAC Foundation, LLC, et al. The U.S. Securities &...more
DOJ’s Cyber Digital Task Force’s report, “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework,” provides a comprehensive on the growing partnerships between DOJ and other offices within the executive branch....more
Recent and significant regulatory and legislative events in the digital asset space demonstrate the evolving and expanding approach by U.S. and international regulators to the burgeoning digital asset markets. These...more
The Google antitrust waiting game wrapped on Tuesday with the DOJ filing a federal D.C.-based lawsuit against the Alphabet unit, accusing the company “of using several exclusive business contacts and agreements to lock out...more
U.S. Crypto Exchange Approved as Wyoming Bank, MSB Regulations to be Simplified - This week Kraken, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has received approval from the State of Wyoming to form a Special...more
A government inquiry can result in serious consequences for a company or individual. Our new podcast series, Voluntary Disclosure—brought to you by the lawyers in our investigations, enforcement, and white collar practice—is...more
Contractors to Pay Over $2.8 Million to Settle Small Business Contract Fraud Allegations - On June 2, 2020, the Department of Justice announced that Ross Group Construction Corporation and its affiliates agreed to pay...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
Patents Granted to Blockchain Payments Firms, Crypto Mining Expands in Texas and Russia - Last month, a U.S. patent was reportedly granted to a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange for a new system that would allow users to...more
A social media company and its wholly owned subsidiary sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for conducting an offering of an unregistered digital security claimed that the agency was wrong in its characterization of...more
Smart Contracts Deployed by Icelandic Retailer, Blockchain for Sneakers and DHS - A press release issued this week announced the successful completion of an automated invoice payment using the Ethereum blockchain. ...more
This summary covers the last two weeks which includes news about continued enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) involving fraudulent digital asset transactions, dismissal of a securities...more
The Department of Justice raised the stakes in spoofing enforcement actions by including racketeering charges in an indictment filed last week alleging spoofing by three traders over many years. The Commodity Futures Trading...more
A clearing organization for futures and securities was sanctioned US $20 million in aggregate by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly not having and following...more
We have definitely seen an uptick in the number of ransomware attacks against municipalities around the country. Thus far, the attacks have been against single cities, towns, and court systems, and recently against a...more
The big takeaway from Day 1 of Fed Chair Powell’s Congressional testimony is that a July rate cut is still definitely on the table, despite last week’s strong US jobs numbers. As the Times puts it, “That the Fed is...more
Last week may not have been the best of times or the worst of times (to borrow from Charles Dickens), but it was undoubtedly a time that three United States financial services regulators issued important guidance on disparate...more