Kalshi is a CFTC registered exchange that allows for the placing of cash bets on a variety of real-world events. Specifically, through what it calls “event contracts,” Kalshi allows users to buy positions on whether an event...more
9/20/2024
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Derivatives ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Gambling ,
Gaming ,
General Elections ,
Illegal Gambling ,
Popular ,
Presidential Elections ,
State Elections ,
Statutory Authority
In October 2023, the Biden Administration released an Executive Order on governing the development and use of AI in a safe and responsible manner, while working with federal agencies to regulate and disperse the benefits of...more
Chair Gensler Continues to Be Outspoken About the Risks of AI Technologies -
Chair Gensler’s warnings of the potential risks associated with the use of AI technologies in the securities industry recently continued with...more
The SEC’s Cybersecurity Proposals -
The SEC has proposed four rules designed to address cybersecurity risk and management, including incident reporting by public companies....more
7/21/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Management ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Companies ,
Oversight Duties ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proposed Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Join BakerHostetler for our series of Fireside Chats about the latest developments impacting the capital markets and their participants, and the blockchain industry....more
7/12/2023
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Blockchain ,
Capital Markets ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
Popular ,
SEC Commissioner ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Webinars
Crypto Firms Announce New Product Launches in Custody, Stablecoins, Wallets -
According to a recent press release, Prometheum Capital has received the first-ever approval from the Financial Industry Regulation Authority...more
6/5/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
IOSCO ,
New Guidance ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
SDN List ,
Securities ,
State Attorneys General ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
On May 3, 2023, a jury found Nathaniel Chastain, a former manager of OpenSea (a major NFT marketplace), guilty of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his attempts to conceal his use of confidential business...more
5/25/2023
/ Commodities ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Digital Assets ,
Fraud ,
Insider Trading ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities ,
Wire Act ,
Wire Fraud
The SEC and CFTC settlements with HSBC and Scotia Capital come after years of federal regulators’ and prosecutors’ steadily increasing scrutiny of off-channel communications. Anchoring these settlements are long-standing...more
5/24/2023
/ Amended Rules ,
Books & Records ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Data Preservation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Electronic Communications ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On May 1, 2023, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS or Department) issued a consent order (Consent Order), imposing a $1.2 million fine on bitFlyer USA, a cryptocurrency trading platform and custodial...more
5/17/2023
/ BitLicense ,
Compliance ,
Consent Order ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Licenses ,
Licensing Rules ,
NYDFS
On Wednesday, March 1 the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its first-ever prosecution of an individual for insider trading based on an executive’s use of 10b5-1 trading plans. Terren Peizer, the executive chairman of...more
3/8/2023
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Amended Regulation ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
Indictments ,
Insider Information ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
Dapper Labs was founded in 2018 shortly after the debut of its first NFT collection, “CryptoKitties,” which was so successful it created a bottleneck of transactions on the decentralized Ethereum Network. Seeking faster...more
3/7/2023
/ Blockchain ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Ethereum ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933
Monaco’s and Polite’s remarks, and the DOJ’s new policies and guidance, come amid the Department’s increasingly tough on corporate crime approach and emphasis on rewarding companies that have effective compliance programs...more
3/7/2023
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Compensation ,
Monaco Memo ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements
On Feb. 7, 2023, the Division announced its 2023 examination priorities. These priorities, updated and published annually, provide insights into the Division’s prioritization of certain practices, products and services in its...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
Two congressional committees of the U.S. House of Representatives commenced the new year by announcing the creation of new subcommittees for the 118th Congress that are expected to analyze issues concerning cryptocurrency and...more
On November 7, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had seized more than $3.36 billion worth of bitcoin as part of a continuing investigation into a 10-year fraud involving the Silk Road dark web...more
11/14/2022
/ Asset Seizure ,
Bitcoin ,
Criminal Proceeds ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Dark Web ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Fraud ,
IRS ,
Silk Road ,
Wire Fraud
Takeaways -
..U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, or Commission) Chair Gary Gensler reaffirmed his view that the “vast majority” of cryptocurrency tokens are securities, and recent agency enforcement actions...more
Takeaways -
..The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued the first-ever smart contracts sanction, and its decision to sanction a nonperson may be challenged in court.
..The U.S....more
8/23/2022
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Ethereum ,
Money Laundering ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Smart Contracts ,
U.S. Treasury
On July 25, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) made headlines announcing insider trading charges against 10 individuals across four separate cases, signaling an increased and renewed focus on...more
Significant parallel actions commenced this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) bring crypto fraud enforcement into the spotlight, with the SEC alleging that multiple...more
7/25/2022
/ Coinbase ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Wallets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
Howey ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Tokens ,
Securities Violations
On June 7, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced S. 4356, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (Lummis-Gillibrand Bill). If enacted, the legislation would create a regulatory framework...more
Key Takeaways - The SEC and DOJ announce that they are focusing on individual and corporate accountability, including a renewed emphasis on lawyers and accountants as the first line of defense against misconduct....more
On October 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the creation of a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (“NCET” or “Team”) to tackle investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of...more
In a speech before the Aspen Security Forum on August 3, 2021, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) Chair Gary Gensler urged lawmakers to provide him with the power to police cryptocurrency trading,...more
The push on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) disclosures has increased in the past several years, with these disclosures becoming a particular focus of the Biden Administration, the Securities and Exchange...more