On July 16, TradeStation Securities, Inc., a member firm of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) to FINRA’s Department of Enforcement. This AWC...more
Key Points - - During its 2024 term, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to provide important guidance on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act’s (PSLRA’s) particularity requirement in NVIDIA Corp. v. E. Ohman J:or...more
In recent years, the virtual asset industry has experienced exponential growth, bringing about innovations in digital payments, tokenisation and decentralised finance (Defi). While highly innovative, the volatile nature of...more
This monthly bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets....more
On March 26, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a complaint (the “Complaint”) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) for injunctive and other relief against...more
Introduction - On 6 February 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt two new rules that significantly expand the definitions of a “dealer” and “government securities dealer” in Sections...more
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, has recently been hit with a staggering $4.3 billion fine for intentionally violating anti-money laundering laws and other financial regulations. This landmark...more
In our previous alerts (Part I and Part II), we provided a brief overview of the new Dual Licensing Regime and highlighted some of the key aspects of the new regime, particularly those set out under the Guidelines for Virtual...more
The Hong Kong government is trying to support the growth of virtual asset and other Web3 industries. One of the first key steps they've taken is to put virtual asset trading platforms into a regulatory licensing regime where...more
On March 27, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the U.S. derivatives regulator, charged three Binance entities (collectively “Binance”) and its founder and chief compliance officer (“CCO”) with numerous...more
On February 9, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Kraken with offering and selling Kraken’s Staking Program – its staking-as-a-service product – as an unregistered security. Kraken, more...more
On January 26, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it entered into a $22.5 million settlement agreement with a Cayman Islands digital asset firm to resolve a securities...more
Die Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht („BaFin“) hat am 21. November 2022 in einer Mitteilung klargestellt, dass Wertpapierdienstleistungsunternehmen in Trading Apps oder Tradingportalen keine Dark Patterns...more
Cryptocurrency investors, who were already in the icy clutches of the so-called “crypto winter,” now have another reason to shiver. Insolvency issues are cropping up with some frequency among crypto companies, which is...more
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
On July 8, 2019, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Division of Trading and Markets and the staff of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued a joint statement outlining...more