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
On October 11, 2022, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced settlements with Bittrex Inc. (Bittrex). The settlements arise from violations of...more
10/19/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Sanctions
On September 30, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published its final regulations on Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Reporting Requirements. The regulations...more
On September 15, 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) detailing certain national security risks that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the Committee) should consider when...more
Two recent federal enforcement actions—announced the same day—have underlined the need for crypto companies to carefully consider their anti-money laundering (AML) obligations or else risk significant penalties....more
This year's version of the annual Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) report, released on August 2, 2022, and covering calendar year 2021, has a Dickensian quality. As usual, it's a dense work. But...more
U.S. lawmakers have proposed requiring government approval for certain outbound investments, much as today's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States regime requires a national security review of certain...more
On July 20, 2022, the Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) within the UK government published a final order blocking a proposed licensing arrangement between the...more
Wilson Sonsini provides extensive and cutting-edge legal services for innovators, technology pioneers, and disruptors. As part of our focus on emerging technologies, our attorneys are publishing a series on applying and...more
On June 16, 2022, the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published its first annual report regarding the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the NSI Act). The report solely covers the...more
The global NFT (non-fungible token) market now is worth dozens of billions of dollars annually. Innovators and early adopters, marketplaces, and sellers, are all eager to join this market but may have questions about how to...more
5/24/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Virtual Currency
President Biden launched an effort to establish a federal digital assets policy strategy and coordinate the related work of federal regulators by signing the Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital...more
3/16/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investor Protection ,
Investors
On February 4, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury (the Treasury) issued a report titled, "Study of the Facilitation of Money Laundering and Terror Finance Through the Trade in Works of Art." The report...more
In December 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) published a judgment interpreting the European Union's Blocking Regulation....more
On December 8, 2021, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published its proposed regulations on beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements. These FinCEN regulations will...more
The United Kingdom's National Security and Investment Act (the NSI Act) is now fully in force. First proposed in 2016, the NSI Act creates a stand-alone regime that authorizes the UK government to consider and address the...more
1/4/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Defense Sector ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
National Security Review Proceedings ,
Public Interest ,
UK
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published new guidance last week for the virtual currency industry. While OFAC's economic sanctions compliance obligations apply to all U.S. persons, the...more
The United Kingdom's National Security and Investment Act (NSI Act) is scheduled to come fully into force on January 4, 2022. The NSI Act will create a new framework for the UK government to review so-called "trigger events,"...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the creation of a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) to "tackle complex investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of cryptocurrency,...more
As directed by the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, the U.S. government has initiated a rule-making process to require beneficial ownership information from certain corporations, LLCs, and other legal entities....more
Earlier this year, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) published an interim final rule to address the security of the U.S. supply chain for information technology (the Rule). The Rule, which has now taken effect as of March...more
On January 19, 2021, we saw the publication of both an interim final rule from the Department of Commerce (Commerce) to address the security of the U.S. supply chain for information technology (the Rule)1 and a new...more
Over the last 20 years, commerce, finance, and banking have become increasingly digital. Anti-money laundering (AML) regulators have found themselves catching up with the pace of technological innovation.1 As AML regulators...more
On October 15, 2020, the final rule implementing the baseline requirements of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) took effect. This final rule altered the mandatory filing rules of the...more
This past weekend saw a halt to the anticipated September 20 implementation of broad prohibitions published on September 18 by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) regarding TikTok and WeChat mobile applications. No...more
9/22/2020
/ Executive Orders ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Online Platforms ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Sanctions ,
Social Media ,
Software Developers ,
Surveillance ,
TikTok ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
WeChat