News & Analysis as of May 13, 2025

Securities

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Virtual Currency (aka Digital Currency or Digital Money) is a type of currency or medium of exchange that is not issued by any government nor guaranteed by a government currency. Despite lacking legal tender status, Virtual Currency is still traded and exchanged in some environments, typically online environments or communities. Bitcoin is the most well-known form of Virtual Currency. less -

Blockchain 2024 - Bermuda (Legal 500)

Carey Olsen on 12/3/2024

Carey Olsen has contributed to The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guide 2024 for Blockchain. The aim of this guide is to provide its readers with a pragmatic overview of the law and practice of blockchain law across a variety...more

The SEC Scored Another Crypto Victory in the LBRY Case, but the Sky Is Not Falling

Paul Hastings LLP on 11/14/2022

Last week’s wild ride in the crypto-verse started, of all places, in New Hampshire. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that LBRY Credits (“LBC”) are securities, and thus LBRY violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 by...more

The Distributed Ledger: Blockchain, Digital Assets and Smart Contracts - April 2019

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 4/16/2019

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

Cryptoassets and ICOs: EU Regulators Show Their Hand

White & Case LLP on 1/15/2019

On 9 January 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA)1 and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)2 published two reports with their advice on cryptoassets for the European Commission (EC) (and in ESMA's case,...more

Federal Court Evaluates When Cryptocurrency May Constitute a Security in a Criminal Case

Winstead PC on 11/12/2018

The regulatory framework for virtual currencies is evolving, as federal and state regulators and courts wrestle with the circumstances in which cryptocurrencies are securities. For instance, the staff of the Securities and...more

The yellow brick road for consumer tokens: The path to SEC and CFTC compliance

Latham & Watkins LLP on 9/19/2018

Developing a framework for consumer tokens - With the rapid growth in the development of blockchain technology, virtual currencies and token sales (sometimes referred to as initial coin offerings, or ICOs) in 2017 and...more

New York attorney general launches fact-finding inquiry into trading platforms for virtual currencies

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP on 4/24/2018

New York is the most recent to join the fray in state-led efforts to regulate the virtual currency markets. On April 17, 2018, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the launch of the Virtual Markets...more

Bridging the Weeks - March 2018 #3

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP on 3/26/2018

The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission opposed a motion to dismiss filed by a defendant named in a criminal indictment, charging him with offering and selling two types of digital tokens issued...more

Rise of Blockchain and ICOs Brings Regulatory Scrutiny

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 2/1/2018

In 2017, the increased adoption of blockchain technology in various industries was partially obscured by the dramatic fluctuations in the price of bitcoins and the prevalence of so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) to...more

Spotlight On Initial Coin Offerings

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC on 11/8/2017

During the past year, the United States has seen an increasing number of a novel form of capital raising conducted by businesses or developers – known as an "initial coin offering," or "ICO." As often seen with other new...more

SEC’s Phone Call to Protostarr Shuts Down its ICO

Goodwin on 9/6/2017

Protostarr, a block-chain based startup, has shut down its decentralized application and refunded its initial coin offering (ICO) participants following a request for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more

SEC's Investigative Report Raises Difficult Questions for ICO Issuers

Jones Day on 8/3/2017

Against the backdrop of recent growth of initial coin or token offerings ("ICOs"), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), on July 25, 2017, published its first public statements on this fundraising practice. The...more

SEC Issues Guidance on Regulation of Initial Coin Offerings

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 8/3/2017

Over the last 12 months, a growing number of start-ups, primarily those offering blockchain-based services, have raised capital utilizing so-called initial coin offerings or token sales (collectively referred to herein as...more

SEC Report Determines DAO Tokens, A Digital Asset, Were Securities

King & Spalding on 8/3/2017

On July 25, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released a Report of Investigation (“Report”) warning market participants that offers and sales of digital assets (“Tokens”) by “virtual” organizations...more

SEC Speaks on Initial Coin Offerings: Tokens May Be Securities

Proskauer - New Media & Technology on 7/31/2017

No blockchain phenomenon has garnered more attention lately than Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs"), which have exploded in value and raised more than $1.2 billion thus far this year....more

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Virtual Currency › Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) › Securities

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