Compliance Tip of the Day: COSO Objective 5 – Monitoring Activities
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What Laws Affect Securities Offerings?
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Investment Management and Private Funds Roundtable – June 2020
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Fiduciary investment advice: The patchwork emerges
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – SEC enforcement
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Complying with new SEC rules for broker-dealers
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
Regulation Best Interest Videocast Series: Establishing An Investment Platform Post-Regulation BI
Investment Management Update - Focus on Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
Each month, we publish a roundup of the most important SEC enforcement developments for busy in-house lawyers and compliance professionals. This month, we examine the following matters: • An SEC complaint alleging a Georgia...more
The Staff’s most recent actions continue to set the stage for notice-and-comment rulemaking long-awaited by the digital asset industry....more
Integrations Connect Crypto and Fiat Financial Products - This week saw the announcement of three cryptocurrency payments partnerships. In a recent press release, a major U.S. financial services company announced a...more
It’s fitting that our second October Web3 legal update arrives on Halloween, as many in the industry might find the current legal landscape for digital asset products and services quite spooky. While the past few weeks have...more
According to recent reports, two U.S. multinational financial technology companies have integrated Ethereum Name Service (ENS), a decentralized naming system built on the Ethereum blockchain, into their payment platforms....more
On August 14, 2024, FINRA published an update (the “Update”) on its ongoing efforts to engage with its members related to crypto asset activities. The Update describes “crypto assets” as assets that are issued or transferred...more
Crypto Firms Announce New Products in Payments, Investments, Custody - A major U.S. digital asset management company recently announced the creation and public launch of its MakerDAO Trust, which “offers investors the...more
On January 23, 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) published an update to the targeted exam it launched in November 2022, which was designed to review – for compliance with FINRA Rule 2210 – the...more
In April 2023, the SEC re-proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 to expand the definition of what it means to be an exchange. When the SEC initially proposed these amendments in January 2022, there were zero direct...more
Katten Named Leader in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in Chambers FinTech 2023 Guide - Katten announced that the firm had attained a superior ranking in the Chambers FinTech 2023 guide. Katten was recognized as a leader in...more
Senators Inquire about CFPB’s Fintech Agenda - On July 27, 2021, Senator Sherrod Brown, the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection...more
With offerings across a growing number of online platforms and increased trading volume, NFT issuers, promoters, and buyers should consider the legal and regulatory implications relating to NFTs and federal securities laws. ...more
In a year-end change of course, the SEC identified the minimum steps that broker-dealers must take when acting as custodians of digital asset securities. On December 23, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
U.S. Developments - Members of Congress Request SEC Clarity On Digital Securities Custody - On December 9, a bipartisan group of representatives penned a letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton regarding the issue of...more
U.S. Developments - Legislation - Congress Members Introduce Stablecoin Legislation - On December 2, 2020, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Congressmen Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) and Chairman of Task Force on...more
U.S. broker-dealer activity involving digital assets could implicate various FINRA rules in addition to federal and state securities laws and SEC rules. As most readers likely know by now, whether this activity is of...more
Commissioner Brian D. Quintenz Ending His Term at the CFTC - Brian D. Quintenz is ending his five-year term as Commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He released a statement on April 28, 2020...more
Asset managers will need to consider how FinTech developments impact their business model in 2020, including developments related to digital asset securities, cryptocurrency-based ETFs and blockchain. In this Bottom Line...more
It was a year filled with tantalizing tidbits and many loose ends. 2019 marked the 10th year since blockchain technology was released into the wild by its still unknown inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, who mined the first bitcoin...more
Until September 30, 2019, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) enforcement actions in the crypto industry conveyed a consistent message: most crypto is a security, and if a token issuer does not follow the registration...more
Smart Contracts Deployed by Icelandic Retailer, Blockchain for Sneakers and DHS - A press release issued this week announced the successful completion of an automated invoice payment using the Ethereum blockchain. ...more
Last week a Canada-based social media company answered charges filed against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2019 that alleged its 2017 initial sale of digital tokens constituted an unlawful securities...more
The Situation: In a recently released joint statement ("Statement"), the Staffs of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") Division of Trading and Markets, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority...more
In its continued efforts to learn what broker-dealers and their employees are doing in the digital asset space, FINRA has effectively reissued a regulatory notice requesting that broker-dealers keep FINRA apprised of their...more
U.S. Developments - Regulatory Developments - SEC and FINRA Issue Joint Statement on Digital Asset Custody Issues - On July 8, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry...more