• Unamended Infrastructure Bill with “Broker” Reporting Requirements Set for Vote in September
  • CFTC Provides Clarification on Its Regulatory and Enforcement Authority
  • Despite El Salvador’s Strongly Worded Bitcoin Law, Bitcoin Usage Remains “Totally Optional”
  • China’s Shandong Supreme Court Holds Crypto Assets Not Legally Protected
  • Thailand Releases Crypto Custodian Regulations
  • Bitcoin Stability Leveraged in Afghanistan Amid Taliban Takeover


Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of August 30, 2021

Weekly Blockchain Focus

  • U.S. House Financial Services Committee Hearing
  • New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to join SEC as head of enforcement
  • FBI Bolstering Tactics Against Illicit Cryptocurrency Transactions and Cybercrimes
  • TP ICAP To Launch Cryptoasset Trading Platform
  • Proposed Regulatory Framework – Cryptoassets in South Africa


Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of July 2, 2021

Weekly Focus:

  • Securities Fraud on the Dark Web Using Bitcoin
  • Germany Securities Settlement Bridge
  • South Korea Implements AML Regulations
  • India’s New Crypto Reporting Regulations
  • Bank of Jamaica Announces Central Bank Digital Current Pilot Program


Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of March 26, 2021

Weekly Focus:

  • BitClave Settles with SEC
  • Telegram Withdrawals Appeal
  • First Meeting of Wyoming Select Committee on Blockchain
  • Louisiana Takes a Step Towards Establishing a Crypto License Regime
  • India Permits Banking for Cryptocurrency Related Businesses
  • Antigua and Barbuda Cryptocurrency Regulation
  • Switzerland Denies Crypto Valley Bailout


Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of May 29, 2020

Weekly Focus:

  • Preliminary Injunction Against Telegram Covers Distribution of Grams Outside of the United States
  • SEC Postpones Decision on Approval of Boston Security Token Exchange
  • Binance Acquires CoinMarketCap
  • Blox and Sovos Crypto Tax Report 2020
  • Financial Action Task Force Finds that U.S. is “Largely Compliant”
  • FINMA 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
  • Russia Delays Adoption of Crypto Law


Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of April 3, 2020

U.S. Developments

FinCEN Director Discusses How FinCEN Uses BSA Data and the BSA Value Project

The Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Kenneth A. Blanco, delivered prepared remarks at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference this week.  Mr. Blanco spoke on five key topics: (1) how FinCEN uses Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data, (2) the status of the BSA Value Project, (3) the importance of beneficial ownership information, (4) the federal banking agency working group efforts, and (5) the realignment of FinCEN’s organizational structure.
Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of December 13, 2019

U.S. Developments

Regulatory Developments

Commissioner Hester Peirce Speaks Before the SUSS Convergence Forum: Inclusive Blockchain Finance, and Emerging Technologies

On August 1, 2019, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Commissioner Hester Peirce gave a speech before the Singapore University of Social Sciences Convergence Forum: Inclusive Blockchain, Finance, and Emerging Technologies. In her remarks, she discussed the challenge U.S. regulators are facing in trying to address the cross-border trading of digital assets. She emphasized that this problem is not unique and raises the same concerns as other cross-border asset trading—“the fear that we [the U.S. Government] will not be able to examine foreign entities registered to operate in our markets and, more generally, that our [the SEC’s] ability to enforce domestic rules will be stymied by our [the SEC’s] inability to regulate outside our borders.” However, she also stated that due to the current diverse landscape of jurisdictional specific regulation combined with the many different use cases for digital assets (and therein legal considerations), these concerns are exacerbated.
Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of August 2, 2019