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Anna C. Mourlam

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Anna C. Mourlam handles matters involving privacy, data security and virtual currency litigation.

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U.S. Developments

Regulatory Developments

CFTC Announces Two Events Designed to Encourage FinTech Innovation

On June 27, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced two events designed to encourage fintech innovation. First, the agency announced the launch of LabCFTC Accelerator. According to the press release, “LabCFTC Accelerator is a component of the broader CFTC’s LabCFTC initiative, focused on deploying a variety of tools, including internal pilots and tests, market research, and innovation competitions in order to drive better understanding and potential adoption of emerging technologies.”

Second, the CFTC announced that it will hold its second annual FinTech Forward 2019 conference—dedicated to exploring the latest in fintech developments—on October 24, 2019. The agency hopes to bring together innovators, regulators, and the general public to examine the impact of developments in such areas as digital assets, commodities, exchange platforms, machine learning and AI, RegTech, and algorithmic trading. Registration for FinTech Forward 2019 will be open to the public early this fall.
Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of June 28, 2019

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) is a sweeping new law that introduces a host of privacy rights for California consumers, as well as creates a series of robust obligations for certain businesses that collect personal information about those consumers.

Join us for CCPA Week: A series of webinars hosted by Perkins Coie’s Privacy…

U.S. Developments

Blockstack Files With SEC for Regulation A+ Token Sale

Blockstack, the New York-based blockchain software provider, has announced that it intends to make a $50 million token offering that would use the SEC’s Regulation A+ exemption. The sale would enable Blockstack to raise capital through the U.S. securities markets via a subsidiary, Blockstack Token LLC, and would be the first SEC-qualified token offering of its kind.

While Blockstack’s offering requires further regulatory review, a Regulation A+ offering provides an alternative to a traditional IPO. Passed as part of the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, the exemption is intended to give companies wider access to the public investing community and to support small business growth and employment by lowering regulatory hurdles for companies trying to raise capital. In addition to exemption from registration, a company filing under Regulation A+ may confidentially submit its offering memorandum to the SEC, undergo an expedited review process, and have fewer ongoing public disclosure requirements.
Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of April 8-12, 2019

Through their recent actions and statements, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has further clarified their position with respect to digital assets and ICOs. Following on from earlier enforcement efforts throughout 2017 and 2018, the SEC Enforcement Division settled cases with AirFox and Paragon, two issuers of unregistered securities in tokenized form, in addition to…