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
In its first enforcement action of the year involving ICOs, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two companies and their founder for violations of antifraud and registration provisions of the federal...more
On July 14, 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) announced settled charges against Blotics, Ltd., f/d/b/a Coinschedule Ltd. (Coinschedule), the UK-based operator of Coinschedule.com, a...more
Ever since the creation of Bitcoin in the late 2000s, the SEC has warned that, depending on the circumstances, “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) involving digital tokens or coins may be subject to regulation under the federal...more
After an extended fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Telegram has agreed to resolve charges the company's unregistered offering of digital tokens called "Grams" violated the United States federal...more
The SEC recently filed suit against Dropil, Inc. (“Dropil”), Jeremy McAlpine, Zachary Matar, and Patrick O’Hara, alleging the defendants had defrauded investors in an unregistered offerings of securities described by the...more
While most of the world was locked down, the preverbal shoe (litigation) finally dropped on Crypto companies that raised money through the sale of digital assets which are alleged to be illegal, unregistered securities...more
The Southern District of New York granted the SEC’s request for a preliminary injunction halting a coin offering in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Telegram Group Inc. et al....more
It’s not often that an SEC Commissioner quotes Bruce Springsteen – not once, but twice – in a speech on securities regulation. But SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce did just that in a February 6, 2020 speech in which she...more
On January 14, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert urging investors to use caution before investing in “initial exchange offerings”...more
On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled charges against blockchain technology company Blockchain of Things Inc. (BCOT) for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) of...more
Digital assets and Blockchain technologies which were once described as the tools of criminals, are now a key part of efforts by traditional financial services firms to transform their businesses and innovative firms looking...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
A Complaint filed by the SEC in the Southern District of New York last week reminds us that in the area of securities law violations there is not much new under the sun. Even though the action against Eran Eyal and...more
On September 30, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that blockchain developer Block.one had agreed to pay a $24 million fine to settle charges that it had engaged in an unregistered offering of securities...more
On October 11, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) announced it filed a complaint and obtained a temporary restraining order against Telegram Group Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary TON Issuer...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
This month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has entered into a settlement with SimplyVital Health, Inc., a blockchain company that offered and sold approximately $6.3 million worth of securities...more
On July 10, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared Blockstack PBC’s offering statement “qualified”, thus allowing Blockstack to commence the distribution and sale of its Stacks Tokens under Regulation A. ...more
It has been widely reported that the SEC sued Kik Interactive Inc. for conducting an illegal $100 million securities offering of digital tokens. The SEC charges that Kik sold the tokens to U.S. investors without registering...more
Rapid advances in blockchain technology are reinventing the way companies operate and deliver products and services to their clients. These changes are particularly visible in the mining & metals industry, a sector that has...more
In this issue, we examine the release of the much-anticipated Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) guidance for analyzing how U.S. federal securities laws apply to initial coin offerings, the...more
While SEC FinHub’s new framework announced last week for identifying crypto-securities suggests continued resistance for those using digital assets to access capital markets, an SEC no-action letter issued the same day to...more
In SEC v. Blockvest, Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California enjoined Blockvest, LLC (“Blockvest”) from proceeding with a planned initial coin offering (ICO) of its “BLV” token....more
The SEC simultaneously announced a pair of settled enforcement actions related to illegally offered ICOs with extensive remedial provisions to fix the faulty offerings....more