The Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") has published its final rules for the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System ("PISCES") – London's new private company share trading platform. The proposals are a...more
According to crypto platform Kraken, the aggregate market cap for all meme coins is over $70 billion. Five meme coins would be considered unicorns (market cap over $1 billion) if they were startups. Dogecoin’s market cap is...more
There is a growing trend for large UK-based companies to consider exploring listings on US stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ, potentially at the expense of the London Stock Exchange plc...more
Pig Butchering Crypto Scams are scams which resemble the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter....more
With its recent decision in Coinbase Inc. v. Suski, the U.S. Supreme Court held that when parties have agreed to two separate contracts, one sending arbitrability disputes to arbitration and the other sending arbitrability...more
Under the helm of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission has argued that many cryptocurrencies qualify as “securities” under federal law, and therefore fall within the SEC’s bailiwick....more
On May 1, NYDFS settled with a cryptocurrency trading platform over the company’s cybersecurity deficiencies, resulting in a consent order and $1.2 million fine for the crypto company. NYDFS alleged “multiple deficiencies in...more
Advertisers, beware. On January 13, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced that as a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, investment advice company WealthPress has agreed to a proposed court order that...more
It is no secret that over the last several years, there has been an exponential increase in the utilization of blockchain and digital assets. Crypto trading and lending platforms have grown rapidly and the total crypto market...more
On top of all the legal trouble for FTX’s founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), the company has also filed for bankruptcy and SBF has been ousted as CEO. John J. Ray III, an attorney and bankruptcy professional, has...more
On Wednesday, December 14, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) affirmatively voted to advance some major changes to U.S. stock-market rules, perhaps the biggest changes to such rules in nearly 20 years....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
In an unwelcome reminder of the events that unfolded in the wake of the May 2022 crypto market collapse, Bahamian-based crypto exchange FTX is reportedly on the brink of collapse following an unexpected surge in...more
On October 12, 2022, Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd. (CCML) was approved as a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), the Canadian SRO for investment dealers. This is the first...more
UK & European Financial Services M&A: Sector trends H2 2021 | H1 2022 — Brokers/Corporate Finance - Marginal improvement in investor sentiment for high-quality brokers, particularly across online brokerage, crypto trading...more
While investors used to need to possess a certain level of tech-savviness to trade cryptocurrency, that is less and less the case these days. In recent years, many mainstream brokerage firms began to allow customers to buy...more
We highlighted in a recent post regulators’ clear intentions to bring greater order to the cryptocurrency industry this year. The last three weeks have demonstrated that private litigants are not waiting on regulators to rein...more
Despite the confusing interpretations by US regulators, non-compliance with crypto tax rules can cost taxpayers dearly. Unfortunately, the answer to “how is virtual currency taxed” depends on who you ask....more
Europcar Drives CDS Down a Familiar Path - When Europcar defaulted on its debt, buyers of approximately $100 million of credit default swap (CDS) protection expected significant payouts due to the anticipated low recovery on...more
On September 30, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that blockchain developer Block.one had agreed to pay a $24 million fine to settle charges that it had engaged in an unregistered offering of securities...more
Johnson & Johnson doled out $20 million to two Ohio counties rather than go through with its first federal opioid-related trial. The money is rather small potatoes for J&J, but it marks the “first time . . . the world’s...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
The SEC simultaneously announced a pair of settled enforcement actions related to illegally offered ICOs with extensive remedial provisions to fix the faulty offerings....more
This is Part 3 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies. ...more
The cryptocurrency market is exciting to watch. Based on the revolutionary blockchain distributed ledger system, cryptocurrencies have exploded on the marketplace. As with any new “gold rush” to hit a market, cryptocurrency...more