In this latest issue of Wilson Sonsini's Focus on Fintech newsletter, we discuss the FTX bankruptcy and the increased federal regulatory scrutiny of crypto assets, and new rules and innovations in the payments...more
2/1/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK
Welcome to Wilson Sonsini’s Focus on Fintech newsletter. This quarterly newsletter provides ongoing analysis and commentary on regulatory developments impacting the fintech industry.
The third quarter of 2022 has been a...more
11/2/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Payment Systems
It is highly likely, and hardly a surprise, that in the near future the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") will increase the number of enforcement actions it brings against crypto industry participants. It is...more
7/28/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment Adviser ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens
In an unprecedented enforcement action, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought insider trading charges against a former Coinbase manager and two others related to buying 25 tokens ahead of Coinbase's...more
The Rule Proposal Would Significantly Broaden the Scope of Systems Required to Register as an Exchange or an ATS The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a rule proposal (the Proposal) that would...more
The Rule Proposal Would Clarify Which Market Participants Are Engaged in Buying and Selling Securities for Their Own Account "as Part of a Regular Business" and Are Subject to Dealer Registration Requirements....more
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly important technology within the investment management industry. AI has been used in a variety of ways—including as the newest strategy for attempts to "beat the market" by...more
A venture fund manager faces all the issues resulting from the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that virtually every other business faces: social distancing, maintaining business-as-usual in a virtual setting, local...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently won a high-profile victory when a federal court held that there is a substantial likelihood that the SEC will prevail at trial in proving that "Grams"—the digital asset...more
Imagine a blockchain promoter offers to sell virtual currency that will be developed in the future and allows purchasers to put down a small amount of the purchase price now and pay the rest later, with delivery to...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) mission has three principal components: investor protection; maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitating capital formation.2 The SEC’s regulation of...more
Until September 30, 2019, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) enforcement actions in the crypto industry conveyed a consistent message: most crypto is a security, and if a token issuer does not follow the registration...more
10/18/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Penalties ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation A ,
Regulation D ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement Offer ,
Token Sales
This white paper discusses considerations related to conducting a token offering under Regulation A under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). The benefit of this strategy is that it can allow broad...more
10/2/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Offering Statements ,
Public Offerings ,
Regulation A ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
White Papers
Happy New Year from all of us in the WSGR Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Practice Group! The industry learned a lot about the regulation of digital assets in 2018, and we published some of our observations about those...more
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and its staff ("Staff") took a coordinated set of actions that should help further clarify its views on the application of the federal...more
In an important step, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has released a cease-and-desist order against Zachary Coburn, the founder of EtherDelta, a well-known online platform for trading Ether and ERC20-based...more
In a recent article, we discussed why the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and its staff (the “Staff”) continue to think most cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets (“tokens”) are securities at the time they are...more
Virtual currency businesses are under scrutiny by U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) regulators. Earlier this year, U.S Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin emphasized that virtual currencies are subject to AML regulations. He...more
4/4/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bitcoin ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Services Business ,
Money Transmitter ,
Popular ,
Virtual Currency
There apparently has been significant shock and surprise over recent reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a large number of subpoenas to initial coin offering (ICO) issuers and to ICO...more
Over the last few months, there has been fairly wide-spread recognition that most offerings in the United States of tokens and of Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) are securities offerings.1 As a result, most U.S....more
Initial coin offerings (ICOs), token pre-sales, and similar sales of blockchain-based coins and tokens are quickly becoming an important fundraising option, and an important method of attempting to seed a token-based platform...more
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to present the August 2017 issue of the WSGR Fintech Update. This latest edition features an article on the State of Delaware's amendments to permit Delaware corporations to use...more
8/3/2017
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Derivatives Clearing Organizations ,
Fintech Charter ,
LedgerX ,
Listing Standards ,
NYSE ,
OCC ,
Risk Assessment ,
SEFs
On July 26, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an investigative report concluding that certain tokens (or coins) offered and sold by The DAO, a virtual organization, were securities under the Securities...more
In recent months, a variety of companies have considered "initial coin offerings" (ICOs) as a way to generate money for their businesses. Companies considering ICOs should be aware that, depending on the structure of the...more
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to present the June 2017 issue of the WSGR Fintech Update. This latest edition features an article discussing recent statements by SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar and the SEC staff...more