The end of the year has been a very busy time for the SEC in the digital asset space. From speeches to the issuance of joint statements to enforcement actions, there are many things to highlight, discuss and consider. This...more
12/21/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investor Protection ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Registration Requirement ,
Section 5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales
In a flurry of enforcement activity in the digital asset space, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers,...more
10/8/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Companies ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Popular ,
Regulation D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
On August 7, Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied in part a motion to dismiss (the “Order”) sought by the defendants in In Re Tezos Securities Litigation (the “Tezos...more
8/31/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Forum Selection ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Popular ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Litigation ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
On July 25, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released groundbreaking materials relating to blockchain tokens. These materials provide significant and welcome insight to the SEC’s and its staff’s thinking...more
7/27/2017
/ Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Blockchain ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investor Advisory Committee ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
On June 30, 2017, the SEC and the U.S. Attorney brought parallel civil and criminal fraud charges against Renwick Haddow, the owner of an unregistered broker-dealer entity named InCrowd Equity Inc., and two corporate entities...more
7/14/2017
/ Asset Freeze ,
Bitcoin ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Financial Crimes ,
HSBC ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
U.S. Attorney ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Unregistered Brokers
In United States v. Newman, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dealt a substantial blow to federal prosecutors’ epic crackdown on insider trading by raising the bar for the government’s burden of proof in...more
12/17/2014
/ Enforcement Actions ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
Popular ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities ,
Securities Fraud ,
US v Newman
The U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, has issued several recent statements signaling a steady pursuit of criminal conduct related to bitcoin. First, on Thursday, November 6, 2014, Trendon...more
In another installment of the continuing saga surrounding the shuttering of the Silk Road online marketplace and arrest of its alleged creator and operator, Ross William Ulbricht (Ulbricht), a Southern District of New York...more