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