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
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
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: • Fraud and internal control failure charges against...more
As might be expected, FINRA appears to be aligning itself with the SEC in its assertion of jurisdiction over investments that may not, at the end of the day, be deemed securities. ...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
Even those who are most suspicious of the rise of cryptocurrency will likely admit that the underlying blockchain technology and its potential uses are exciting. One use of this technology, decentralized finance, or DeFi, is...more
“Decentralization” is a concept that has consistently vexed the entire blockchain-enabled ecosystem in the U.S., including its counsel and regulators, wherein a lack of clarity on the exact definition of decentralization has...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. Crypto Trading Firms Make Acquisitions Targeted at “Prime Brokerage” Services - This week major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced plans to acquire Tagomi, a U.S.-based prime brokerage platform focused on...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
In This Issue. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a new guide to help financial technology companies and others partner with banks; the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it...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
Token Taxonomy Framework Published, Blockchain Supply Chain Pilots Expand - This week, the members of the Token Taxonomy Initiative (TTI), an organization with members that include several major firms across a diverse set of...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
Blockchain Capital Markets Platforms Achieve and File for Regulatory Approvals - The Intercontinental Exchange recently received approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services for its emerging bitcoin...more
U.S. Developments - Facebook Announces Formation of Calibra and Launch of Libra - On June 18, 2019, Facebook announced the launch of Libra, a new cryptocurrency designed to have a stable value and be widely accepted...more
U.S. Developments - Regulatory Developments - SEC Chair’s Recent Comments on Digital Assets - Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Chairman Jay Clayton touched on digital asset issues during two recent...more
U.S. Developments - New York Attorney General Announces Filing in Connection with Tether, Bitfinex Investigation - On April 25, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office obtained a court...more
REGULATORY UPDATES - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) Releases Its 2019 Priorities - On January 22, 2019, FINRA released its Annual Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter, which highlighted the...more
U.S. and International Governments Address Smart Ports, Smart Cities, and Cryptocurrencies - According to reports, in an Oct. 3 meeting, representatives of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) claimed that the agency is...more
U.S. Developments - Federal Bank Regulators Issue Joint Statement on Collaborative BSA/AML Compliance - On October 3, 2018, a group of federal bank regulators and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”)...more
In a flurry of enforcement activity in the digital asset space, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers,...more
U.S. Judge Says Initial Coin Offerings May Be Covered by Securities Law - On September 11, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie ruled that U.S. securities laws may cover an initial coin offering and stated that a reasonable...more
U.S. Customs Pilots Blockchain for Supply Chain as Private Sector Pilots Continue - On Tuesday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency announced that it would begin testing a blockchain solution to verify...more