On February 27, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) released a statement concerning meme coins (“Statement”) with the stated...more
On February 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of a new specialized unit, the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit, to “focus on combatting cyber-related misconduct and to protect...more
Crypto Currently News Center With the commencement of the Trump 2.0 Administration, the White House, Congress, agencies and certain states have each announced significant developments related to crypto. The WilmerHale...more
On February 4, 2025, Commissioner Hester Peirce offered a first glimpse at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) roadmap for establishing a regulatory framework for crypto. Tasked with leading the SEC’s...more
2/7/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Clearing Agents ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investors ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Tokens ,
Transfer Agents
On January 21, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda launched an agencywide “Crypto Task Force” dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for...more
On December 20, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a final rule amending SEC rules 15c3-3 (the customer protection rule) and 15c3-1 (the net capital rule). The SEC also amended Form X-17A-5 Part II (the...more
On November 21, 2024, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February 2024. Those rules had defined language in the definitions of...more
12/16/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Final Rules ,
Government Securities ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Market Participants ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Vacated
The election of Donald Trump as president could have a significant impact on the crypto industry given his campaign promise of a procrypto administration. Trump will be able to appoint a new chair of the U.S. Securities and...more
The election of Donald J. Trump as President could have a significant impact on the crypto industry given his campaign promise of a pro-crypto administration. President Trump will be able to appoint a new chair of the...more
11/15/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Election Results ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Trump Administration ,
Unregistered Securities
On October 21, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Examinations published its examination priorities for fiscal year 2025.1 In this alert, we offer ten observations for broker-dealers. Our observations...more
10/31/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Cryptoassets ,
ETFs ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form CRS ,
Information Reports ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulation S-P ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Third-Party Service Provider
On September 18, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) approved amendments to Regulation NMS (the Amendments) that take several steps intended to narrow bid/ask spreads, reduce transaction costs for...more
On March 18, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) announced settled charges against two investment advisers, Delphia (USA) Inc. and Global Predictions, Inc., for making false and misleading...more
The current SEC administration has expressed the view that most crypto assets are offered and sold as securities and has proposed several rules that address “digital asset securities” or “crypto asset securities.” In this...more
3/18/2024
/ Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Best Execution ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptoassets ,
Custody Rule ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Market Participants ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Safeguards Rule ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act
At an industry event in early 2023, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or the Commission) Chairman Rostin Behnam set out a comprehensive agenda to include nearly three dozen rulemaking proposals as well as “business...more
2/28/2024
/ Asset Class ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Derivatives ,
Derivatives Clearing Organizations ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Form PF ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swaps
On February 6, 2024, by a vote of 3-2 along party lines, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or the Commission) adopted Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act), which...more
2/27/2024
/ Dealers ,
Government Securities ,
Liquidity ,
Market Participants ,
New Rules ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Traders
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is an umbrella term used to describe financial services provided outside of the traditional markets, that rely on blockchain technologies to create innovative products instead of relying on...more
2/9/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Cryptoassets ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
IRS ,
Jurisdiction ,
Money Services Business ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
U.S. Treasury
On January 9, 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority published its 2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report. Previously titled Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program, the Report is released...more
1/18/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Best Execution ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Cryptoassets ,
Electronic Communications ,
Equity Securities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
Public Communications ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulation SHO ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Investors ,
Retail Sales ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or Commission) proposed Regulation Best Execution (Proposed Reg Best Ex), which would establish through Commission rules a federal best execution...more
One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges - FTX Trading Ltd. - and many of its affiliates filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. While the full impact of the FTX bankruptcy is not yet clear, various responses from...more
12/1/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
CFTC ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Stability Board ,
G20 ,
Market Participants ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently announced enforcement actions that reflected sweeping, and previously unarticulated, views of their respective...more
10/12/2022
/ CFTC ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations
On March 28, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) (collectively, the Proposed Rules). The Proposed Rules seek to...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant changes to the regulation of securities trading systems that use non-firm trading interest and alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade government...more
On November 1, 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) - along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) - published the Report on...more
11/16/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cross-Border ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Exchange Rates ,
FDIC ,
FinCEN ,
FSOC ,
Information Reports ,
Legislative Agendas ,
OCC ,
Payment Systems ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
On July 14, 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) announced settled charges against Blotics, Ltd., f/d/b/a Coinschedule Ltd. (Coinschedule), the UK-based operator of Coinschedule.com, a...more
8/4/2021
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Offerings ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Statutory Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On December 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) issued a statement (Statement) regarding the custody of digital assets that are “securities” under the federal securities laws. The Statement...more