The strong vote in the House for the CLARITY Act sends a clear message to the Senate that there is bipartisan momentum and support for digital asset market structure legislation. However, several obstacles remain. Given the...more
June marked a pivotal moment in U.S. digital asset oversight with major developments from the SEC, Congress, and the DOJ. First, on June 9, 2025, the SEC’s Crypto Task Force held its final scheduled roundtable called “DeFi...more
In May 2025, the leadership from the SEC provided guidance on digital asset regulation in several keynote addresses and round tables. The SEC's activities in May 2025 suggest a deliberate movement towards establishing a more...more
On June 9, 2025, the Deputy Attorney General issued a Memorandum detailing the administration’s new FCPA guidelines for all current and future investigations and enforcement actions. According to the Head of DOJ’s Criminal...more
SEC v. Nagler is the second enforcement action charging an investment adviser with undisclosed conflicts of interest since Chair Paul Atkins began his tenure on April 21, 2025. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
Following a two-week Easter recess at the end of April, Congress returned to Washington, D.C. with all eyes on budget reconciliation. Individual committees marked up legislation in accordance with reconciliation directives to...more
On May 12, 2025, the DOJ announced a new “white-collar enforcement plan” identifying new corporate enforcement priorities and aiming to promote greater focus, fairness and efficiency in prosecuting corporate misconduct. In a...more
On March 20, 2025, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland jointly announced the formation of a new International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce (the “Task Force”) aimed at strengthening cross-border collaboration...more
5/13/2025
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
France ,
Government Agencies ,
Switzerland ,
UK
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
On February 25, 2025, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released an enforcement advisory regarding the impact of self-reporting, cooperation and remediation in enforcement cases (the “Enforcement...more
Both the CFTC and SEC have new Acting Chairs, who are known to be crypto advocates, with Mark Uyeda being appointed Acting Chair of the SEC, taking over from Gary Gensler, while Caroline D. Pham has assumed the role of Acting...more
2/12/2025
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration
UPDATE: President Signs Executive Order Directing DOJ to Pause All FCPA Enforcement for 180 Days - On February 10, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to pause all...more
On January 13, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled enforcement actions with five registered investment advisers for failing to maintain and preserve internal electronic communications. These...more
1/20/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Compliance ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Penalties ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Remedial Actions ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Settlement ,
WhatsApp
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
1/14/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Investment ,
NVIDIA ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Russia ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
12/19/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Investment ,
Misleading Statements ,
Money Laundering ,
New Legislation ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Phishing Scams ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sanctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sentencing ,
Smart Contracts ,
Tokenization ,
UK
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
10/22/2024
/ Appeals ,
Bitcoin ,
Brokers ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Elder Abuse ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
OECD ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
The Senate has yet to take action on the 21st Century Act (FIT21) (H.R.4763) which passed the House by a comfortable margin of 279-136 on May 22, 2024. FIT21 is a proposed landmark piece of legislation that would enact a...more
9/13/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Fraud ,
Investment Fraud ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
South Korea ,
Unfair Trade Practices Act ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) ,
Whistleblowers
Judge Engelmayer’s 107-page dismissal of most of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s claims against SolarWinds provides valuable guidance, and some comfort, for public companies and Chief Information Security...more
8/19/2024
/ Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fraud ,
Internal Controls ,
Misrepresentation ,
Negligence ,
Ransomware ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
SolarWinds
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
8/16/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Mining ,
CFTC ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Penalties ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
UK
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
7/25/2024
/ Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
FDIC ,
Fraud ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
Jurisdiction ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury
On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 in Snyder v. United States that a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), does not criminalize “gratuities” to state and local officials—i.e., payments made to those...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's May...more
6/13/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
Ethereum ,
Money Laundering ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wells Notice ,
Wire Fraud
The big news in crypto policy came out of the Senate this month. On April 17, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) partnered once again in the digital asset space, this time introducing the...more
On April 12, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposed fines and other sanctions on five registered investment advisers (RIAs) for violations of the Investment Adviser Marketing Rule (Rule 206(4)-1), which has...more
On Friday, April 5, 2024, a San Francisco jury found the defendant liable in SEC v. Panuwat, the closely watched litigated enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to so-called...more