Regulatory and Legislative Developments

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The Celsius Network bankruptcy cases provide another opportunity for parties to acquire their assets and/or operations. As predicted in an earlier post, the bankruptcy court issued an order in the Celsius cases, approving bidding procedures that outline the entire process and steps to be followed by anyone interested in submitting a bid.

Anyone interested in buying assets or operations from Celsius will need to follow the process outlined in the order to connect with the advisors to Celsius, sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), and structure a bid with the bid requirements to become a Qualified Bid* as defined in the order.  …

Continue Reading Celsius Bidding Procedures Create Possible Bidding Opportunities

A host of reasons can cause bankruptcy timelines to slide—ongoing negotiations, buyers dealing with their lenders, holidays, court scheduling issues, perhaps a dearth of interested buyers, and more. These types of changes are usually more of a stew of events than they are attributable to any single ingredient.

An earlier post included a timetable for the Voyager sale process that contemplated a September 8 hearing to approve one or more sale of assets to an as-of-yet-undetermined bidder or bidders. Voyager also initially planned for a Chapter 11 plan confirmation process that would have a disclosure statement hearing on September 29.…

Continue Reading Voyager—Bankruptcy Timelines Begin to Slide

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), on August 8, 2022, sanctioned virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash. OFAC alleged that it had been “used to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019 [, including] over $455 million stolen by the Lazarus Group[,]” a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) state-sponsored hacking group that OFAC identified for sanctions in 2019, in what the agency characterized as the largest known virtual currency heist to date.[1]…

Continue Reading OFAC Takes Action Against Virtual Currency Tornado Cash in Novel Application of Sanctions Authorities

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • Treasury Releases National Risk Assessments
  • SEC Probing NFT Market
  • Russia/Ukraine Sanctions Overview
  • Summary of Industry Responses
  • BitConnect Founder Flees India After Being Indicted In $2B Ponzi Scheme
  • UK Government to Crackdown on Illegal Cryptocurrency Activity
  • Swiss City of Lugano to Make Bitcoin and Tether ‘De Facto’ Legal Tender

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Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review: Week of February 28, 2022

Perkins Coie LLP is pleased to bring you this updated Digital Asset SEC Timeline.

The Digital Asset SEC Timeline serves as an interactive compilation of select SEC guidance, enforcement actions, and speeches relating to the application of the federal securities laws to digital assets. Beginning with the release of the DAO Investigative Report in…

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • U.S. Congress to Hold Oversight Hearing on the Mining of Cryptocurrency
  • NY DFS to Hire New Deputy Superintendent
  • Recent Federal Regulator Announcements Signal Changes in Senior Leadership at the SEC, CFTC, and FDIC
  • CFTC Fines Crypto Betting Service Polymarket $1.4M for Unregistered Swaps
  • Australian Open Offers NFT Sales Alongside 2022 Tournament
  • ESMA Releases Request for Evidence Regarding Regulation on Distributed Ledger Technology

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Continue Reading Virtual Currency Legal Report: Week of January 7, 2022

Weekly Blockchain Focus

  • Senate Holds Hearing on Stablecoins
  • Senate Confirms New Commodities Futures Trading Commission Chair
  • U.S. National Credit Union Administration Clarifies Ability of Federally Insured Credit Unions to Partner With Third-Party Digital Asset Service Providers
  • IRS Revises Language on Form 1040
  • Ninety Percent of Bitcoin’s Total Supply Mined
  • Chinese Court Declares Mining Contract Void

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Continue Reading Blockchain Legal Report: Week of December 17, 2021

In a clear reference to cryptocurrencies and tokens, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler outlined a vigorous enforcement approach in his keynote remarks at the annual Securities Enforcement Forum.

The following update provides analysis of the agency’s new enforcement approach and its implications.

Read the full client article here

On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released guidance on sanctions compliance for the digital currency industry, the agency’s most detailed statement to date on its expectations for participants in this rapidly growing industry. This guidance expands on the five pillars of OFAC’s 2019 Framework by…

Agency’s Focus on Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Continues

On September 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released an updated advisory to “highlight the sanctions risks associated with ransomware payments”—almost one year after issuing the first such guidance—and simultaneously imposed sanctions on SUEX, a virtual currency exchange accused…