The Second Circuit recently revived a securities class action against the crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., holding that plaintiffs plausibly alleged their transactions on the exchange were "domestic," as required by the...more
The D.C. Circuit rebuked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on administrative law grounds but left untouched the test the Agency used to deny proposed bitcoin exchange traded products ("ETP")....more
9/7/2023
/ Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Markets ,
Listing Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Vacated
Two SEC commissioners dissented and urged the Commission to provide further guidance on non-fungible tokens ("NFTs")....more
9/7/2023
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
In Short -
The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more
8/22/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stablecoins
In Short -
The Situation: In parallel federal actions, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC")...more
7/24/2023
/ CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Market Manipulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
In Short -
The Situation: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") has reopened the comment period for its January 2022 proposal to amend Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 to broadly expand the...more
In Short -
The Situation: For the first time, the Economic Report of the President (the "Report") includes a chapter on digital assets....more
4/5/2023
/ Blockchain ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
FedNow ,
Financial Markets ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In Short -
The Situation: Decentralized finance ("DeFi") is a rapidly growing sector that, by definition, eschews centralized financial institutions altogether. Misconduct that has accompanied that growth has drawn the...more
In "Digital Assets Defined: How Lummis-Gillibrand Will Shape the Coming Fintech Debate," we provided a high-level overview of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (the "Bill") and examined some of its significant...more
In Short -
The Situation: Following the release of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (the "Lummis-Gillibrand Bill"), four senators on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry released their own...more
On June 7, 2022, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (the "Bill"), which proposes a regulatory framework for digital assets across nine titles...more
The SEC's Enforcement Action Against Ripple -
In December 2020, the SEC commenced an enforcement action against Ripple and two of its senior executives alleging that the defendants violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of...more
3/23/2022
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair-Notice Standard ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motion To Strike ,
Popular ,
Section 5 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
The SEC's Proposal -
On January 26, 2022, the SEC released a rulemaking proposal that, among other things, would expand the definition of "exchange" under Rule 3b-16 of the Exchange Act. ...more
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has left little doubt that his commission will closely monitor activity in the cryptoasset markets and the actions of decentralized finance, or DeFi platforms, as investor interest continues to grow....more
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler suggests SEC will aggressively police crypto assets and decentralized finance ("DeFi") platforms while seeking expanded authority to regulate these fast-growing industries....more
8/10/2021
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Gary Gensler ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Policy Statement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
On February 26, 2021, the SEC's Division of Examinations released a Risk Alert to make digital asset market participants aware of recurring issues that have arisen in the course of recent examinations, and provide notice of...more
The Situation: On January 4, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued an Interpretive Letter permitting national banks and federal savings associations ("Banks") to participate in independent node...more
1/19/2021
/ Banking Sector ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Interpretive Letters ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
Federal court grants summary judgment to the SEC on its claim that sales of digital tokens constitute investment contracts under the Securities Act.
On September 30, 2020, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein granted...more
The Situation: Late last year, a shareholder sued NorthWestern Corporation ("NWE") to compel the company to include a climate-change related proposal in its 2020 proxy materials after NWE had notified the staff of the...more
3/12/2020
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
New Guidance ,
No-Action Letters ,
No-Action Relief ,
No-Action Requests ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Rule 14a-8(i)(7) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
The Situation: As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") continues to bring enforcement actions to stop unregistered sales of digital tokens, blockchain companies are exploring ways to sell tokens to the public...more
The Situation: In a recently released joint statement ("Statement"), the Staffs of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") Division of Trading and Markets, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority...more
8/5/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Customer Protection Rule ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Securities ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investor Protection ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
Rule 15c3-3 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SIPA
The Situation: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") issued a framework for market participants in assessing whether their digital assets-related activities involve the offer, sale, or distribution of investment...more
4/8/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Funds ,
No-Action Letters ,
No-Action Relief ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Tokenization
In “How Regulations Could Help Cryptocurrencies Grow,” published in the Harvard Business Review, Jones Day partners Stephen Obie and Mark Rasmussen explain why effective government oversight is critical to bringing...more
The Situation: The Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporate Finance, William Hinman, has weighed in on when digital assets will be characterized as securities.
The Result: In...more
6/26/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Ether ,
Goods or Services ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales
The Situation: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a special unit to bring enforcement actions against several forms of cyber misconduct.
The Result: The Cyber Unit has already brought enforcement...more
12/20/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency