News & Analysis as of November 19, 2024

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Virtual Currency (aka Digital Currency or Digital Money) is a type of currency or medium of exchange that is not issued by any government nor guaranteed by a government currency. Despite lacking legal tender status, Virtual Currency is still traded and exchanged in some environments, typically online environments or communities. Bitcoin is the most well-known form of Virtual Currency. less -

Blockchain+ Bi-Weekly: July 2024 #2

Polsinelli on 7/25/2024

While the nation was preoccupied with the significant developments in the Presidential race, advocates and promoters of the blockchain ecosystem were particularly attentive to the news, given the perception that the current...more

Blockchain+ Bi-Weekly - June 2023 #2

Polsinelli on 6/30/2023

The Blockchain Bi-Weekly presented by the Polsinelli Blockchain+ team is a rundown of some of the key stories in the Web3, blockchain and crypto ecosystems curated by our attorneys navigating the intersections of code, smart...more

Crypto Love is a Battlefield

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP on 2/25/2022

The battle over blockchain technology and digital assets bears a striking resemblance to the debate over the potential of the internet in the mid-1990s. Where critics see a passing fad with little actual utility or a lawless...more

BitBlog Bi-Weekly Update - April 2020

Polsinelli on 4/23/2020

While the world at large shelters in place due to COVID-19 legal and regulatory activity of digital asset and the blockchain world is hopping. ...more

Power of the Peirce: SEC Commissioner Spends Some of Her Influence on Trying to Help Crypto Network Developers

Orrick - On the Chain on 2/19/2020

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce continues to be one of the most vocal persons in leadership positions at federal regulators who are promoting innovation in digital currency and the blockchain....more

SEC Division of Enforcement 2019 Annual Report Shows Cryptocurrency Is Still Under the Microscope

Orrick - On the Chain on 11/26/2019

The SEC Division of Enforcement’s 2019 Annual Report, released earlier this month, shows a continuing focus on activities involving blockchain and cryptocurrency, and its website shows an increase in cases since last fiscal...more

Congress Seeks to Add Formal Definitions to "Blockchain" and "Digital Token"

Burr & Forman on 4/12/2019

As the 116th Congress continues its work in the first session, several new and revived bills have been introduced concerning blockchain and cryptocurrencies. ...more

Blockchain Week in Review - January 2019 #3

Perkins Coie on 1/24/2019

U.S. Developments - Flood of State Virtual Currency Legislation - Since the start of the new year there have been roughly nine virtual currency bills introduced or passed in four different states. Overall, the bills...more

France Adds the Missing Piece to the Law Allowing Blockchain Technology to be Used to Register and Transfer Unlisted Securities

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP on 1/14/2019

The notion of distributed ledger (formally denominated “shared electronic recording system, or DEEP in French) was first introduced to French law in 2016 by Ordinance No. 2016-520 of April 28, 2016 (the “Minibon...more

State Regulations on Virtual Currency and Blockchain Technologies (Updated)

Carlton Fields on 1/9/2019

There exists no uniformity with respect to how businesses that deal in virtual currencies (also known as "cryptocurrencies") such as Bitcoin are treated among the states....more

Blockchain Week in Review - September 2018 #4

Perkins Coie on 10/2/2018

Roundup of CFTC Resources - U.S. Developments - Cryptocurrency and the Colorado Money Transmitter License Act - On September 20, 2018, following months of consultation with the Colorado Attorney General’s office,...more

France Set to Enact the First Regulatory Framework for Crypto-asset Intermediaries

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP on 10/2/2018

After allowing registration and transfer of unlisted securities through distributed ledgers in 2017 and drafting legislation for initial coin offerings (ICOs) earlier this year, France is contemplating the introduction of a...more

A Big Week on the Blockchain: Recent Enforcement and Regulatory Developments

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on 9/19/2018

Technology evolves and events unfold at a dizzying pace in the blockchain world, but even by those standards this past week was tough to keep up with. Every day seemed to bring a new first for the industry...more

Some Legal Issues Surrounding Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Part 7: The CFTC’s Proposed Cryptocurrency Interpretation.

Burr & Forman on 9/19/2018

After Bitfinex, the CFTC issued its Proposed Interpretation on “Retail Commodity Transactions Involving Virtual Currency.” Proposed Interpretation, 82 Fed. Reg. 60335 (CFTC Dec. 20, 2017). Although the comment period closed...more

Some Legal Issues Surrounding Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Part 6: The CFTC’s Bitfinex Order.

Burr & Forman on 9/18/2018

In a series of 2015 decisions, the CFTC determined that virtual currency is a commodity subject to its jurisdiction. In a 2016 settled enforcement action, the CFTC took the position that an unregistered platform...more

Some Legal Issues Surrounding Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Part 5: Commodities Forwards: Dodd-Frank & Hunter Wise.

Burr & Forman on 9/17/2018

The 2011 Dodd-Frank Act amended the CFTC’s jurisdiction to authorize regulation of “retail commodity transactions offered ‘on a leveraged or margined basis, or financed by the offeror, the counterparty, or a person acting in...more

Some Legal Issues Surrounding Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Part 3: Regulation of Cryptocurrencies.

Burr & Forman on 9/12/2018

This is Part 3 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies. ...more

Blockchain Week in Review - August 2018 #2

Perkins Coie on 8/23/2018

SEC Bars Perpetrator of Initial Coin Offering Fraud - On August 14, 2018, the SEC obtained permanent officer-and-director and penny stocks bars against David T. Laurance of Tomahawk Exploration LLC (“Tomahawk”), who...more

States Race To Embrace Blockchain Technology

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider on 7/24/2018

Add Connecticut, Ohio and Vermont to the list of states passing legislation focused on the potential disruptive impact of blockchain – the technology underlying cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. ...more

What is blockchain and how will it affect me?

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints on 4/13/2018

The term “blockchain” is everywhere, and it is likely that you will interact with blockchain technology every day in the years to come. Blockchain technology recently came to the public’s attention thanks to rising prices...more

Developing Crypto’s Regulatory Landscape: A Survey of Recent Actions by Federal Regulators to Fence Off Jurisdiction Over Virtual...

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider on 4/11/2018

In the decades that followed the enactment of the Homestead Act of 1862, more than 1.6 million U.S. citizens and intended citizens filed applications with the U.S. government to lay claim to 160 acres of land guaranteed to...more

Cryptocurrency 101

Lathrop GPM on 4/10/2018

If you do not currently own Bitcoin, the odds are in the last few months you have thought about the merits (or lack thereof) of owning Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is a digital or virtual currency (commonly...more

Blockchain Week in Review - February 2018

Perkins Coie on 3/23/2018

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

FinCEN Letter to U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Purports to Thread Needle of Potentially Competing Jurisdictions by Regulators...

Ballard Spahr LLP on 3/9/2018

As we previously have blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) became one of the first regulators to wade into the regulation of cryptocurrency when it released interpretive guidance in March 2013 stating...more

Federal court rules virtual currency is commodity regulated by CFTC

Ballard Spahr LLP on 3/9/2018

A decision this week from a New York federal district court ruling that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had jurisdiction to regulate a cryptocurrency business represents the first opinion from a federal...more

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