Although the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has postponed broker-related digital asset reporting, a less publicized requirement that applies long-standing reporting rules for physical cash payments to businesses that accept...more
The focus on enforcement has done little to clarify regulatory expectations regarding current facts and market practices.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has used and continues to use enforcement actions as...more
A California federal court recently held that all governance token holders were responsible for any losses suffered in a security incident. Specifically, the court, in denying a motion to dismiss, ruled in part in favor of a...more
4/11/2023
/ Asset Tokens ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Digital Assets ,
Investors ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Negligence ,
Personal Liability ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Securities Tokens
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
Throughout a tumultuous 2022, the digital currency and blockchain space saw a number of significant investigation, litigation, and enforcement matters as regulators continue their laser focus on the industry. This Year in...more
2/14/2023
/ Bankruptcy Court ,
Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Stablecoins ,
Unregistered Securities
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 July 21, 2022, the SEC charged three individuals with insider trading of digital assets via a scheme to trade ahead of multiple announcements regarding crypto assets being made available on a United States-based digital...more
7/25/2022
/ Criminal Conspiracy ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Indictments ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wire Fraud
On March 9, 2022, President Biden issued the Executive Order Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets setting forth six principal policy objectives in furtherance of U.S. initiatives in the crypto and digital asset...more
The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a complaint against Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”) and two of its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, on December 22, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the...more
1/26/2021
/ Blockchain ,
Corporate Executives ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Section 5 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities