The Cayman Islands Government has taken a significant step in the regulation of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) with the commencement of the licensing regime under the Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act (as...more
Following consultations earlier this year, the Virtual Asset (Service Providers) (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (the Bill) has been gazetted and represents a major milestone in enhancing the Cayman Islands’ regulatory landscape for...more
On 29 October 2024, the Hong Kong District Court issued the judgment of the first legal action (Chan Wing Yan and Another v. JP-EX Crypto Asset Platform Ltd and Others [2024] HKDC 1628) against JPEX, which the Hong Kong...more
In recent years, the virtual asset industry has experienced exponential growth, bringing about innovations in digital payments, tokenisation and decentralised finance (Defi). While highly innovative, the volatile nature of...more
This monthly bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets....more
On 8 February 2024, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) released a consultation paper on its legislative proposal to introduce a regulatory regime governing over-the-counter (OTC) trading of virtual assets...more
On July 31, the SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against three cryptocurrency trading platforms and their founder for allegedly conducting unregistered offerings of crypto...more
On January 4, NYDFS issued a consent order against a cryptocurrency trading platform for engaging in alleged violations of New York virtual currency, anti-money laundering, transaction monitoring, and cybersecurity...more
Cryptocurrency investors, who were already in the icy clutches of the so-called “crypto winter,” now have another reason to shiver. Insolvency issues are cropping up with some frequency among crypto companies, which is...more
New York’s chief law enforcement agency recently squandered an opportunity to bring much needed guidance to the digital assets space. On October 18, 2021, the Office of New York Attorney General, Letitia James (“NYAG”),...more
With new types of digital assets and related business on the rise, federal authorities have been busy investigating. Recently, the SEC, FinCEN and the CFTC have imposed some notable settlements involving cryptocurrency...more
THE CHALLENGE: In the emerging cryptocurrency space, most investors store their assets in digital wallets, where—unlike traditional bank accounts—they earn no interest. In the last few years, cryptocurrency investors have...more
The Regulation of Retail Commodity Transactions—History and Background - On March 24, 2020, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the Commission or the CFTC) finalized long-awaited interpretive guidance regarding...more
On March 24, 2020, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the Commission or the CFTC) finalized long-awaited interpretive guidance regarding what constitutes the “actual delivery” of a digital asset in the context of...more
U.S. Developments - Litigation - New York Resident Indicted for Duping Investors with Fake ICO Scam - On November 6, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced a wire fraud charge...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance on May 9, 2019, underscoring the application of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations relating to money...more
This is the inaugural issue of The Distributed Ledger, a periodic publication covering the latest trends and developments in blockchain technology, digital assets and smart contracts. In this edition, we examine a federal...more
On April 17, 2018, the New York Attorney General’s Office (“OAG”) launched a Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative and sent letters to thirteen cryptoasset trading platforms requesting, through a questionnaire, disclosures on...more