A 2024 CFTC enforcement action settlement that may have introduced a new test for when the Commodity Exchange Act and the agency's regulations apply on a cross-border basis concerned then-CFTC Commissioner and now Acting CFTC...more
6/2/2025
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interpretive Letters ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Jurisdiction ,
Market Participants ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Settlement
In a break from the typical acting agency chairman, Acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") Chairman Caroline Pham has taken several significant actions, signaled several more, and set the agency on a path to...more
3/26/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
CFTC ,
Comment Period ,
Commodities ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Futures ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration
The ruling that the SEC acted arbitrarily in denying Coinbase's crypto rulemaking petition, issued in the waning days of the Gensler-era SEC, invites swift action under an Atkins-led SEC....more
In Short -
The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more
8/22/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stablecoins
In Short -
The Situation: Decentralized finance ("DeFi") is a rapidly growing sector that, by definition, eschews centralized financial institutions altogether. Misconduct that has accompanied that growth has drawn the...more
The SEC's Enforcement Action Against Ripple -
In December 2020, the SEC commenced an enforcement action against Ripple and two of its senior executives alleging that the defendants violated Section 5 of the Securities Act...more
4/1/2022
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Fair-Notice Standard ,
Financial Markets ,
Investment ,
Ripple ,
Section 5 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
The SEC's Enforcement Action Against Ripple -
In December 2020, the SEC commenced an enforcement action against Ripple and two of its senior executives alleging that the defendants violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of...more
3/23/2022
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair-Notice Standard ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motion To Strike ,
Popular ,
Section 5 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
On October 18, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James directed two virtual currency lending platforms to immediately cease their unregistered and allegedly unlawful activities in New York and sent letters to three...more
10/29/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
New York ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities Transactions ,
Stablecoins ,
State Attorneys General ,
Virtual Currency
As the global digital asset industry continues to grow, regulators worldwide have increased efforts to define and shape the legal landscape through various approaches. In the UAE, for example, the Financial Services...more
10/25/2021
/ Africa ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ether ,
Financial Markets ,
Investment ,
Middle East ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE)