Crackdown on DeFi? An Examination of the CFTC's Enforcement Action Against Uniswap — The Crypto Exchange
JONES DAY TALKS®: CFTC and DOJ Target Derivatives Trading Across Industries
NFA Chairman Chris Hehmeyer Talks Bankruptcy Reform
Stablecoin Demand Increases with Initiatives Announced in Germany, Hong Kong - Recent reports highlight an increasing demand for stablecoins. According to one report, the market cap of the PYUSD stablecoin recently...more
On March 26, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a complaint (the “Complaint”) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) for injunctive and other relief against...more
Last week, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment against global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and two of its founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, for allegedly conspiring...more
There should be a short answer to the question of which whistleblower program applies in which situation. And sometimes there is; but not always. Securities (like stocks) are regulated by the SEC (Securities and Exchange...more
On March 27, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a civil enforcement action against three entities that operate a digital asset exchange (the “Company”) and its Founder and Chief Executive Officer...more
The major cryptocurrencies have experienced significant declines in 2022; with the crypto market shedding $2 trillion of its peak $3 trillion market capitalization in November 2021. Amid this “crypto winter,” Terra Luna and...more
On January 3, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) entered an order charging Blockratize, Inc. (d/b/a Polymarket.com) (“Polymarket”) with offering off-exchange binary options contracts and failing to...more
In September 2021, the market capitalization for digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, was valued at $2.14 trillion. The cryptocurrency market has attracted a variety of fraudulent activities in which the...more
Approximately $123 million in awards has been awarded to whistleblowers since the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Whistleblower Program was created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. ...more
Even those who are most suspicious of the rise of cryptocurrency will likely admit that the underlying blockchain technology and its potential uses are exciting. One use of this technology, decentralized finance, or DeFi, is...more
On October 10, 2019, CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert commented on Ether’s status as a commodity: “We’ve been very clear on bitcoin: bitcoin is a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act. We haven’t said anything about Ether –...more
U.S. Developments - U.S. Federal Regulatory Developments - CFTC, FinCEN, and SEC Leaders Release a Join Statement on Digital Assets - On October 11, 2019, the heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”),...more
U.S. Developments - Regulatory Updates - CFTC Publishes Enforcement Manual - On May 8, 2019, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) Division of Enforcement (“DOE”) published its first public...more
The Ethereum Classic blockchain was the victim of a 51% attack (often called a majority or Sybil attack) on January 5, 2019 that reorganized portions of the blockchain and allowed the attackers to double-spend 219,500 ETC...more
In 2018, the number of blockchain-enabled projects increased sharply as established companies sought to apply distributed ledger technology to their existing business models and startups developed new and disruptive models...more
FATF Issues Virtual Currency Guidance - On October 19, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) published the outcomes of its Plenary meeting. Included in the outcomes of the meeting were new recommendations related to the...more
On Aug. 23, 2018, Nobuaki Kobayashi, the trustee over the estate of the troubled Mt. Gox — the hacked Japanese cryptocurrency exchange — opened an online claims submission process that would allow creditors to recoup their...more
This is the inaugural issue of The Distributed Ledger, a periodic publication covering the latest trends and developments in blockchain technology, digital assets and smart contracts. In this edition, we examine a federal...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) obtained an important court win and boost to its regulatory authority over Cryptocurrencies this month. A federal district court in Massachusetts recently issued a decision in...more
U.S. Developments - Federal Bank Regulators Issue Joint Statement on Collaborative BSA/AML Compliance - On October 3, 2018, a group of federal bank regulators and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”)...more
Recently, a United States District Court in Massachusetts ruled in favor of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) argument that a virtual currency (My Big Coin or MBC) is a “commodity” within the meaning of the...more
The regulatory landscape surrounding cryptocurrency continues to evolve. Most of the activity to date has involved regulatory enforcement actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Commodity Futures...more
Commentary on the CFTC's proposed interpretation of the 'actual delivery' exception to cryptocurrencies, from two CFTC attorneys in their personal capacity....more
Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of...more
At least for now, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) will be the leading fraud regulator for cryptocurrency and virtual currency transactions. On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the United...more