Search Results: SEC

SEC to Wyoming (Division of Banking): Interpreting Federal Securities Laws and Rules is our Domain

In early November 2020, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Division of Investment Management (“IM Division”), in consultation with the SEC’s “FinHub” staff, issued a statement in response to a No-Action Letter from the Wyoming Division of Banking purporting to provide interpretive guidance on both Wyoming…

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SEC Announces Settlement with Unikrn, Peirce Issues Statement in Opposition

On September 15, 2020, the SEC announced a settlement with Unikrn, Inc. (“Unikrn”)—an online eSports gaming and gambling platform based in Washington State—in connection with the SEC’s finding that Unikrn had conducted an unregistered offering of securities in violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act.  According to…

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SEC Commissioner Peirce Not Skating Around Her Views on Telegram Settlement

Never one to hold back, especially when it comes to crypto and blockchain matters, SEC Commissioner Peirce recently explained her views on the SEC’s settlement with Telegram and the agency’s approach to regulating the crypto and blockchain ecosphere generally. Simply put, Peirce disagreed with the Telegram settlement.  In her words:…

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FINRA (Again) Encourages Members to Report Digital Asset Activities

U.S. broker-dealer activity involving digital assets could implicate various FINRA rules in addition to federal and state securities laws and SEC rules.  As most readers likely know by now, whether this activity is of interest to or subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. securities regulators (both federal and state) largely…

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SEC Wins Injunctive Relief to Prevent Telegram's Distribution of $1.7B Worth of Cryptocurrency

In a recent decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Telegram Group Inc. and TON Issuer Inc., the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a motion for a preliminary injunction by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), thereby preventing the distribution to purchasers of…

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SEC Commissioner Peirce Proposes Safe Harbor for Blockchain Developers

Speaking at the International Blockchain Congress in Chicago on February 6, 2020, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce proposed a safe harbor from U.S. securities laws so that developers of blockchain protocols could offer and sell tokens for the purpose of developing functioning token networks and creating liquidity for users. Commissioner Peirce’s…

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SEC Deems Digital-Currency Investment Vehicle a Reporting Company

On January 21, 2020, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (the “Trust”) became the first digital currency investment vehicle to attain the status of an SEC reporting company. The Trust’s sponsor, Grayscale Investments, LLC (“Grayscale”), is a digital currency asset manager that offers cryptocurrency investment products that provide exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum, among…

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Rensel v. Centra Tech, Inc., No. 17-cv-24500, 2019 WL 6828270 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 13, 2019)

On December 13, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted the plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment in a putative securities class action against Centra Tech, Inc. (“Centra Tech”). The putative class action complaint alleged that the defendants violated Sections 12(a) and 15 of the Securities…

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