On Oct. 15, 2021, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published sanctions compliance guidance for the virtual currency industry. OFAC acknowledged that virtual currencies are playing an...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently sided with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and decided that virtual currencies are commodities. This ruling confirms the regulator’s...more
In a regulatory first, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a cease and desist order and imposed a $200,000 fine against a hedge fund that invested in digital assets and its founder. ...more
10/1/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
Amid concerns that many investors may not fully understand the risks associated with virtual currencies, or the limits of regulatory oversight, the National Futures Association (NFA) recently issued an interpretive notice...more
9/5/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
CPOs ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Markets ,
Futures ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Introducing Brokers ,
Investment Products ,
Investor Protection ,
National Futures Association ,
NFA ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Virtual Currency
After a surge in popularity and an increased interest from regulators, virtual currencies — also known as cryptocurrencies — have entered into a new phase in their relatively short history, with an increase in class actions...more
8/3/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Class Action ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
False Advertising ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investors ,
Material Misrepresentation ,
Offerings ,
Popular ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
As part of the ongoing efforts of the federal government, agencies and financial market regulators to respond to the growing cryptocurrency market, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) of the Department of Treasury...more
The regulatory focus on initial coin offerings (ICOs) has not diminished since our last client alert where we mentioned that the public consultation of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) proposed to develop an ad...more
Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently released their respective 2018 examination priorities, providing a glimpse into their plans for the year to...more
3/2/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Capital Raising ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Funds ,
OCIE ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Secondary Markets ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
After our recent client alert summarizing recent U.S. regulatory developments in the crypto-world, the House of Representatives of the State of Wyoming passed HB 70, referred to as the “Utility Token Bill” and HB 19, known as...more
3/1/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Switzerland ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
On Feb. 6, Jay Clayton and Christopher Giancarlo, the chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), respectively, jointly testified before the Senate Banking...more
3/1/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
ETFs ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Management ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Virtual Currency
One week after filing a fraud suit against the organizer of the PlexCoin token sale, the SEC issued an enforcement order in connection with a token offering by Munchee and a public statement that shed some additional light on...more
2/8/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
Global Regulators Increasingly Shifting Focus to Cryptocurrency -
After years of allowing cryptocurrency transactions to fly under the radar, financial market regulators are beginning to turn their attention to virtual...more
2/2/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Funds ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securitization ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Reform ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
Until recently, cryptocurrencies had largely avoided the regulatory spotlight. While financial market regulators monitored the emerging sector, they largely maintained a hands-off approach as it remained on the periphery of...more
2/1/2018
/ Asia ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Funds ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
After lingering on the periphery of financial markets for the past several years, cryptocurrency has finally started to move into the mainstream. While the explosion in Bitcoin’s value dominated the news headlines,...more
1/2/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CBOE ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency
On July 25, the SEC released an investigative report warning that “virtual” organizations’ offers and sales of digital assets may be subject to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of...more