On January 25, 2024, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Staff issued a request for comment (RFC) on the current and potential uses and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) in the markets that the CFTC...more
On January 9, 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority published its 2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report. Previously titled Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program, the Report is released...more
1/18/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Best Execution ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Cryptoassets ,
Electronic Communications ,
Equity Securities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
Public Communications ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulation SHO ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Investors ,
Retail Sales ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On October 13, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a comprehensive licensing regime for digital asset companies operating in California. Until this point, California had refrained from taking a definitive position on...more
11/13/2023
/ Best Execution ,
Capital Requirements ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exemptions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Governor Newsom ,
Licensing Rules ,
Money Transmission Act ,
New Legislation ,
Stablecoins ,
Surety Bonds
On Sept. 18, the New York State Department of Financial Services issued proposed guidance for companies holding virtual currency business licenses and limited-purpose trust companies — collectively referred to as virtual...more
On September 18, the New York State Department of Financial Services (the DFS or the “Department”) issued proposed guidance for BitLicensees and limited-purpose trust companies (collectively, VCEs) seeking to list virtual...more
On May 5, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a landmark legislative proposal—titled the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency and Oversight (CRPTO) Act (hereinafter, the Proposal)—to tighten regulations...more
On May 5, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a landmark legislative proposal — titled the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency and Oversight Act — to tighten regulations on the digital asset industry....more
On May 5, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a landmark legislative proposal—titled the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency, and Oversight (CRPTO) Act (hereinafter, the Proposal)—to tighten regulations...more
On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or Commission) proposed Regulation Best Execution (Proposed Reg Best Ex), which would establish through Commission rules a federal best execution...more
A flurry of activity on January 27 signaled continued skepticism from the Federal Reserve of crypto-asset-related activities generally and open, public or decentralized networks in particular....more
On January 23, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS or the Department) issued guidance clarifying its expectations for New York-based virtual currency businesses regarding the custody of customer assets...more
The emergence of digital assets has brought new risks and challenges, including the potential exploitation of the technology to facilitate financial crime.
The U.S. Department of Justice has committed to work with its law...more
1/10/2023
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Civil Liability ,
Criminal Liability ,
Cryptoassets ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Fraud ,
Securities Fraud ,
Wire Fraud
On January 3, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (FRB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a Joint Statement on Crypto-Asset Risks to Banking...more
1/9/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FDIC ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FRB ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
NYDFS ,
OCC ,
Prudential Standards ,
Risk Alert ,
Risk Assessment
One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges - FTX Trading Ltd. - and many of its affiliates filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. While the full impact of the FTX bankruptcy is not yet clear, various responses from...more
12/1/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
CFTC ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Stability Board ,
G20 ,
Market Participants ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently announced enforcement actions that reflected sweeping, and previously unarticulated, views of their respective...more
10/12/2022
/ CFTC ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations
Cryptocurrency continues to dominate the headlines, from starting the year at a high with major TV ads to questions in recent weeks about the stability of the market. In this episode of In the Public Interest, co-host and...more
On March 28, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) (collectively, the Proposed Rules). The Proposed Rules seek to...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant changes to the regulation of securities trading systems that use non-firm trading interest and alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade government...more
On November 1, 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) - along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) - published the Report on...more
11/16/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cross-Border ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Exchange Rates ,
FDIC ,
FinCEN ,
FSOC ,
Information Reports ,
Legislative Agendas ,
OCC ,
Payment Systems ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
On July 14, 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) announced settled charges against Blotics, Ltd., f/d/b/a Coinschedule Ltd. (Coinschedule), the UK-based operator of Coinschedule.com, a...more
8/4/2021
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Offerings ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Statutory Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On December 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) issued a statement (Statement) regarding the custody of digital assets that are “securities” under the federal securities laws. The Statement...more
On March 24, 2020, Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York granted the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) an injunction to prevent Telegram Group Inc. and TON Issuer Inc. (collectively, “Telegram”)...more
In a speech on February 6, 2020, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester M. Peirce outlined a proposed safe harbor to address certain regulatory difficulties faced by individuals desiring to build...more
On January 14, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert urging investors to use caution before investing in “initial exchange offerings”...more
1/27/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Diligence ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) ,
Investors ,
Offerings ,
Online Platforms ,
Regulation ATS ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Unregistered Securities
On October 28, 2019, Paxos Trust Company, LLC (Paxos) received a time-limited (two-year) No-Action Letter from the Division of Trading and Markets of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This No-Action Letter...more