Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
On Friday, January 17, 2024, President Donald J. Trump announced the launch of the $TRUMP memecoin, which was organized and sold by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization. Within 60 hours, $TRUMP reportedly...more
The election of Donald Trump as president could have a significant impact on the crypto industry given his campaign promise of a procrypto administration. Trump will be able to appoint a new chair of the U.S. Securities and...more
The election of Donald J. Trump as President could have a significant impact on the crypto industry given his campaign promise of a pro-crypto administration. President Trump will be able to appoint a new chair of the...more
Although the excitement for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may have faded since its peak in 2022, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has new and unwanted attention from the SEC. In addition to a potential enforcement...more
In its third action involving NFTs, the SEC targets a restaurant membership token tied to fundraising and promises of potential price appreciation for buyers....more
Crypto Payments Firms Announce New Integrations and Initiatives - According to reports, fintech bank Revolut recently announced a partnership with Ledger, a major crypto hardware wallet provider, to make it easier for...more
Recently, the SEC released its complaint against a digital platform that acted as an unregistered broker and seller of crypto-asset securities transactions. The SEC alleges that since 2020 the platform brokered over 36...more
In a significant escalation of its crypto enforcement efforts, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Consensys Software Inc., the developer of the popular MetaMask crypto wallet and suite of...more
Of the 46 enforcement actions in 2023: 26 actions (57%) alleged fraud under Section 17(a) - of the Securities Act and/or Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act; 28 (61%) alleged an unregistered securities...more
In addition to tokens and crypto issuers, the SEC enforcement continued its focus on crypto lending and trading platforms. In January 2023, the SEC brought two enforcement actions against three firms for unregistered offer...more
On November 14, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) published its enforcement results for fiscal year 2023. FY23 was another active year in terms of SEC enforcement, with a 3 percent increase in total...more
On November 20, 2023, the SEC filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Payward, Inc. and Payward Ventures, Inc. which, together, do business as Kraken. The...more
The same day that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. denied the SEC's request for an interlocutory appeal of the bombshell summary judgment ruling in the case, the...more
Two SEC commissioners dissented and urged the Commission to provide further guidance on non-fungible tokens ("NFTs")....more
In a published settlement of the charges on August 28, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stated that non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) issued by Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact”) were “securities” under US...more
Summary - The SEC’s focus on the crypto industry expanded this week to include non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In its first NFT-enforcement action, the SEC settled with Impact Theory, a media and entertainment company, over...more
Specifically, the SEC wants a change to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – now, not later – of its view that Torres got it wrong when she determined that the company's offer and sale of its XRP token...more
The questions revolving around crypto assets typically begin with examining if a security is involved. The answer to that question is determined by applying the Howey test and frequently concluding that the asset is in fact a...more
In the span of two days, June 5 and June 6, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commenced proceedings against the largest crypto asset exchange in the world, Binance.com; its affiliated US exchange,...more
The regulatory authority of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) over the cryptocurrency industry has recently been challenged on a couple of fronts. One involves a lawsuit filed by the SEC against a Utah-based...more
NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, known by basketball fans as “The Truth,” has run afoul of the SEC. No, not that SEC—Pierce played college basketball at Kansas in the Big 12. No, this would be the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
The SEC’s Complaint - According to the SEC’s complaint, Kraken offered and sold its staking services to the general public in which participants could transfer crypto assets to Kraken in exchange for “advertised annual...more
With the announcement of charges against and a settlement with two subsidiaries of a prominent crypto exchange, Kraken, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to have a new target within the blockchain...more
On February 1, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative class action brought by customers of Coinbase Global Inc. and its subsidiary Coinbase Inc. (together, Coinbase), alleging the...more
On January 12, the SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against two companies (collectively, defendants), alleging that they were involved in the unregistered offer and sale...more