On January 10, 2022, tZERO’s ATS settled a matter with the SEC in which it agreed to an $800,000 fine. Given the size of the penalty and substantial attention on the SEC’s approach to regulating digital asset securities, readers may have thought that this would present a blockbuster set of…
Please note, this is a summary to the article previously published in Forbes. Author David Burke makes the analogy that Bitcoin blockchain is “the kind of steamship that shows that steamships work and sets off a chain of innovation that triggers a final burst of innovation from the sailing ships…
Please note, this is a summary to the article previously published on PYMNTS.com. Cryptocurrency crimes are under the microscope as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) steps up enforcement efforts with the formation of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), according to a press release on Thursday (Oct. 7). The…
Please note, this is a summary to the article previously published on PYMNTS.com. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for companies holding large amounts of bitcoin, Decrypt reported. The portfolio will include Tesla, PayPal and around 28 other companies. The approval comes as the…
In a speech before the Aspen Security Forum on August 3, 2021, SEC Chair Gary Gensler followed the lead of his predecessor and repeated the SEC’s view that current securities regulations are clear and almost all tokens are securities. In the same speech however, he cited “facts and circumstances” that…
People are often the most valuable asset for growing technology companies, and attracting and retaining top talent is all-the-more important when dealing with emerging technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrencies. For most private companies, the path for creating meaningful incentives for service providers is well-trodden—they can use a traditional equity incentive…
The past few weeks have ushered in signs of what’s likely to come from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement under the Biden Administration, including a greater number of investigations and a tougher path to “bad boy” waivers for issuers. The SEC’s enforcement program plays a critical role in the agency’s…
The blockchain and digital asset landscape continued to evolve in 2020. DeFi grew exponentially, venture funds are highly active, state and international jurisdictions are vying for crypto business, a crypto lawyer is head of the OCC, and Bitcoin has almost become mainstream. With the SEC, CFTC, FinCEN, DOJ, and the…
The SEC, in one of the Commission’s final acts under the leadership of Chair Jay Clayton, approved enforcement action aimed at Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”) and two of its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. The SEC filed its complaint on December 22, 2020 in the Southern District of New…
Read our full Client Alert here. Christmas came early for many in the digital asset community by way of a statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 23, 2020 that grants relief in the area of broker “custody” of digital asset securities. The framework laid out by the…