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…
In 2020, the price of gold has jumped over 30 percent from $1,517 per ounce on January 3, 2020 to over $2,000 per ounce on August 6, 2020. The spike in the price of gold isn’t yet at the level reached in the 2017 Bitcoin boom when the price of…
On June 24, 2020, New York’s Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) announced a series of steps it is taking to promote development and opportunities in the virtual currency space. These actions would build upon New York’s “BitLicense,” a virtual currency licensing regime implemented in 2015 that establishes minimum standards for…
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:…
On July 22, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an interpretive letter confirming that national banks and federal savings associations (banks) may provide cryptocurrency custody services to customers. The conclusion that banks may provide such services is not surprising, because banks have long provided safekeeping…
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…
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…
2019 was a year of significant regulatory and legal developments in digital currency + blockchain. The SEC issued its most comprehensive guidance to date with its Framework for “Investment Contract” Analysis of Digital Assets, followed that up with three “no action” letters for projects that in its view complied with…
Goodwin is pleased to announce that Nick Losurdo has re-joined the firm as a partner in its financial industry group, and a member of its digital currency and blockchain technology practice. Over the past 17 months, Nick has served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Elad Roisman. While at the SEC,…
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…