News & Analysis as of

Cryptocurrency Registration Requirement Enforcement Actions

McDermott Will & Emery

CFTC Staff Letter 25-14: What Is a “U.S. Person”?

On May 21, 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Market Participants Division and Division of Market Oversight jointly issued Staff Letter 25-14 in response to a request from SCB Limited, a Bahamas-based...more

Carlton Fields

SEC Deep-Sixes Its Expanded “Dealer” Definition

Carlton Fields on

Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended its definition of “dealer” to require broker-dealer registration by some persons or entities previously considered securities “traders” not subject to such...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

The SEC’s Sudden Impact on NFTs!

On August 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) instituted cease-and-desist proceedings under Section 8A of the Securities Act against Impact Theory, a Los Angeles media and entertainment company, alleging...more

Goodwin

District Court Denies Payday Lender's Bid To Dismiss SEC Enforcement Action

Goodwin on

District Court Denies Payday Lender's Bid To Dismiss SEC Enforcement Action; Delaware Chancery Court Dismisses Camping World Insider Trading Derivative Suit; California Federal Judge Certifies Class Of Apple Common-Stock...more

Proskauer - Blockchain and the Law

CFTC Issues Cease and Desist Order to Binary Options Operator Using Smart Contracts

On January 3, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) entered an order charging Blockratize, Inc. (d/b/a Polymarket.com) (“Polymarket”) with offering off-exchange binary options contracts and failing to...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Department of Justice Announces First Known Criminal Prosecution Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act

On June 25, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Jack Abramoff intends to plead guilty to criminal violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), in what is the first known criminal prosecution under...more

Goodwin

SEC Wins Injunctive Relief to Prevent Telegram's Distribution of $1.7 Billion Worth of Cryptocurrency

Goodwin on

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...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Bridging The Week - February 2020

Last week, a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule that would provide a bright line when a digital asset initially issued to raise funds to help develop a new network might later be regarded...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Bridging The Week - August 2019 #3

Two food giants agreed to resolve charges brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that they manipulated or attempted to manipulate prices of the Chicago Board of Trade’s December 2011 wheat futures contract and...more

A&O Shearman

SEC Files Contested Complaint Over Unregistered $100 Million Initial Coin Offering, In Case That Could Clarify Application Of...

A&O Shearman on

On June 4, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) sued Kik Interactive Inc. (“Kik”) for conducting an unregistered offering of $100 million of digital tokens. See U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v....more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Virtual Currency Guidance + Enforcement Actions = AML Regulators Are Watching

A few days before thousands of blockchain industry participants poured into New York for “Blockchain Week,” the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance on virtual currencies...more

Jones Day

ICOs and Digital Assets: A New and Optional Legal Regime in France

Jones Day on

The Situation: ICOs and digital assets have become a new phenomenon that has impacted many aspects of our modern economies and created an alternative way of financing for start-ups or small and medium-sized enterprises. ...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

FinCEN – We Will Identify Where Compliance Is Not Taking Place And Take Appropriate Action

Last week we reported that FinCEN had issued new guidance addressing cryptocurrency and other convertible virtual currency. The need for compliance was reinforced this week. In a speech by Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

With the SEC, Cooperation is Key

As an expensive “slap on the wrist,” the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) recently concluded that approximately $12.7 million worth of funds raised in a 2017 Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”) by...more

Allen Matkins

Rescinding Initial Coin Offerings Under California Law

Allen Matkins on

John Jenkins at the The Mentor Blog wrote this morning about the Securities and Exchange Commission's relaxed approach to remedying unregistered initial coin offerings (aka ICOs). According to John, the SEC is allowing an...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Bridging the Week - February 2019 #3

The US Department of Justice vehemently opposed the request for a new trial by the first person charged, convicted and sentenced under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s prohibition against...more

Perkins Coie

The SEC and Digital Assets—A Busy Year End

Perkins Coie on

The end of the year has been a very busy time for the SEC in the digital asset space. From speeches to the issuance of joint statements to enforcement actions, there are many things to highlight, discuss and consider. This...more

White and Williams LLP

The SEC Expands Its Enforcement Efforts to Include Cryptocurrency Exchanges

White and Williams LLP on

In an enforcement action filed on November 8, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered that 31-year-old Zachary Coburn, founder of the EtherDelta cryptocurrency exchange, cease and desist from operating the...more

Proskauer - Blockchain and the Law

Airfox and Paragon Settle with SEC for Unregistered ICOs: Civil Monetary Penalties Imposed; Rescission and Registration Required

On November 16, the SEC announced that it settled charges against CarrierEQ, Inc. (“Airfox”) and Paragon Coin, Inc. (“Paragon”) for securities offering registration violations in connection with their respective initial coin...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Bridging the Week - November 2018 #3

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement issued its annual report last week; it said the purpose of its enforcement program was to engender a “true culture of compliance.” The Division suggested the...more

A&O Shearman

ICO Issuers Settle With The SEC Over Unregistered Coin Offerings

A&O Shearman on

On November 16, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) instituted separate settled administrative proceedings against Carrier EQ Inc., d/b/a AirFox (“AirFox”) and Paragon Coin Inc. (“Paragon”) for failing...more

Proskauer - Blockchain and the Law

Registration Requirements for “Decentralized” Exchanges under the Federal Securities Laws: The Case of EtherDelta

On November 8, the SEC announced that it settled charges against Zachary Coburn, founder of EtherDelta, a type of non-custodial digital asset trading platform commonly referred to as a “decentralized exchange” or “DEX.”...more

Proskauer - The Capital Commitment

SEC Extends Registration Requirements for Investment Companies and Broker Dealers to ICO/Crypto Firms

Fund managers take note – after over a year of warning, this month the SEC announced a pair of settlement orders with respect to registration requirements for a fund and broker dealer operating in the crypto and digital...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Unlicensed Bit Coin Exchange Operator Sentenced to One Year and a Day for Attempted Money Laundering in Undercover Sting Operation...

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Earlier this month, the District Court for the Central District of California imposed a prison sentence of one year and a day, with three years of supervised release, on defendant Theresa Lynn Tetley, who had pleaded guilty...more

Jones Day

Texas Enforcement Sweep Finds Widespread Fraud in Cryptocurrency Offerings

Jones Day on

The surge in cryptocurrency activity has led to an increase in attention from enforcement authorities at both the state and national levels. The Texas State Securities Board launched an investigation into cryptocurrency...more

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