On September 7, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the settlement of three separate enforcement actions in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space: namely, concerning the Opyn protocol and its...more
9/19/2023
/ Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Token Sales
On May 5, 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a bill for consideration by the New York State Legislature that would implement comprehensive and far-reaching regulation of digital asset activities in the...more
5/17/2023
/ Brokers ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Platforms ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Influencers ,
Investment Adviser ,
Listing Standards ,
Market Participants ,
NYDFS ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State Attorneys General
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments that will expand quarterly disclosure of share repurchases in Form 10-Q quarterly reports and Form 10-K annual reports filed by domestic operating companies....more
5/9/2023
/ Amended Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Final Rules ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Form 20-F ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Required Forms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Share Buybacks ,
Stock Repurchases ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
Increased equity market volatility provides issuers with opportunities to repurchase shares at attractive prices. At the same time, issuers must consider how recent changes to the tax treatment of stock buybacks, potential...more
4/12/2023
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Corporate Governance ,
Excise Tax ,
Form 10-Q ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
IRS ,
ISDA Master Agreement ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Safe Harbors ,
Share Buybacks ,
Stock Repurchases
On February 28, 2023, the National Futures Association (NFA), the self-regulatory organization for U.S. derivatives market participants, submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for approval a new...more
3/17/2023
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Compliance ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Futures ,
Jurisdiction ,
Market Participants ,
National Futures Association ,
Proposed Rules
On February 15, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a proposed rulemaking (the Proposal) that would transform existing Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the...more
As we have previously discussed, the SEC’s Fall 2022 “Reg Flex” Agenda charts the agency’s planned rulemaking through Q1 2023. Among this ambitious and wide-reaching agenda are two important final rulemakings concerning the...more
2/14/2023
/ Brokers ,
CFTC ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Proposed Rules ,
SBS Entities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps
On January 26, 2023, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. (ISDA), the leading trade organization for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, published the ISDA Digital Asset Derivatives Definitions...more
In a first of its kind enforcement action, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) is attempting to hold participating members of a decentralized autonomous organization (“DAO”) liable for alleged violations of the...more
10/5/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Criminal Liability ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Illegal Trading ,
Market Participants ,
Registration Requirement ,
Retail Investors ,
Swap Execution Facilities
On March 15, 2021, ISDA published the ISDA 2021 Security-Based Swaps (SBS) Top-Up Protocol (the SBS Top-Up Protocol). The SBS Top-Up Protocol enables SBS dealers (SBSDs) and other market participants to comply with certain...more
On October 28, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted Rule 18f-4 (the “Rule”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”) and amended related rules designed to provide a modernized,...more
11/25/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Derivatives ,
Exceptions ,
Internal Reporting ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investment Funds ,
Investors ,
Mutual Funds ,
New Regulations ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Registered Funds ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Repurchase Agreements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Rule 18f-4 ,
Rule 6c-11 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Stress Tests
In 2020, the price of gold has jumped over 30 percent from $1,517 per ounce on January 3, 2020 to over $2,000 per ounce on August 6, 2020. The spike in the price of gold isn’t yet at the level reached in the 2017 Bitcoin boom...more
Speaking at the International Blockchain Congress in Chicago on February 6, 2020, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce proposed a safe harbor from U.S. securities laws so that developers of blockchain protocols could offer and sell...more
2/19/2020
/ Accredited Investors ,
Blockchain ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EDGAR ,
Exemptions ,
Howey ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Issuer Exemption ,
Notice Requirements ,
Proposed Rules ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation A ,
Regulation D ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales