U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates Ohio Enacts Cybersecurity Law with addition of Blockchain to Ohio’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act On August 7, 2018 Ohio Governor John Kasich signed SB 220, which adds “blockchain technology” to the definition of “electronic record” and “electronic signature” under Ohio’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Generally, SB 220 provides an update for … Continue Reading
The following summaries are available in our sister blog, The Fintech Report. OCC Begins Accepting National Bank Charter Applications from Financial Technology Companies New York Department of Financial Services Voices Opposition to Regulatory “Sandboxes” and OCC Charters for Fintech Companies Blockchain in Review – Week of July 30 – August 3, 2018 U.S. Developments Regulatory … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates CFTC Issues Customer Advisory Urging Public to Use Caution When Buying Virtual Currencies On July 16, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a customer advisory about virtual currencies, urging customers to use caution and perform research before purchasing digital coins or tokens, including self-described “utility coins” or “consumption … Continue Reading
Proud to be a part of the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s newest whitepaper “Understanding Digital Tokens: Market Overviews & Guidelines for Policymakers & Practitioners” Special thanks to the Perkins team: Joseph Cutler, Michael Didiuk, Dax Hansen, Fred Fedynyshyn, Stephen Keen, Tom Ahmadifar and Michael Selig for contributions to the Chamber’s Token Alliance guidelines for policymakers. … Continue Reading
On July 18, 2018, the Financial Action Task Force[1] (“FATF”), published its report to the July 2018 G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting.[2] The report sets out FATF’s ongoing work to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, and in particular FATF’s work programme on virtual currencies, including the money laundering and terrorist financing … Continue Reading
The following update is on our Fintech Legal Report: FINRA Issues a Regulatory Notice for Firms to Let FINRA Know About Digital Asset Activities Blockchain Week in Review: Week of July 9, 2018 U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates Vermont Enacts Blockchain Business Development Bill On May 30, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed SB 269 (thereby becoming … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates SEC and CFTC Announce New Cooperation Agreement On June 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a new Memorandum of Understanding meant to allow two agencies to further coordinate in areas of common interest. Under the MOU, the two agencies agreed to identify areas of … Continue Reading
In a speech today during a crypto conference in San Francisco, a top Securities and Exchange Commission official expressed his view that, at this point, sales of Ether are not securities transactions. Speaking from prepared remarks, Bill Hinman, Director of the Division of Corporation Finance said: “Based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the … Continue Reading
The most prevalent tokens on the Ethereum blockchain are ERC-20-compliant (ERC-20 Tokens). However, there are many other ERC, or Ethereum Request for Comment, standards available. Recently, companies like Launch Labs, Inc. d/b/a Axiom Zen (Axiom Zen) have launched new endeavors utilizing ERC-721-compliant tokens (ERC-721 Tokens). ERC-721 Tokens each have unique characteristics, unlike fungible ERC-20 Tokens. … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates CFTC Staff Issues Advisory to Exchanges and Clearinghouses on Virtual Currency Derivatives On May 21, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk released an advisory that provides guidance to designated contract markets (DCM), swap execution facilities (SEF), and derivatives clearing organizations (DCO) … Continue Reading
As first published on Bloomberg’s Daily Tax Report. Key Takeaways The Internal Revenue Service is obtaining significant records about virtual currency holders These records not only implicate taxpayers who sold virtual currency at a profit, but also anyone who bought, sold, sent, or received virtual currency Exchanges of one virtual currency for another, mining of … Continue Reading
We are pleased to release an updated edition of our smart contracts white paper, originally published in May 2017. The updated white paper surveys the current academic and industry landscape related to smart contracts, and discusses the key legal issues surrounding smart contract applications. Authors of the white paper are Dax Hansen, Partner and Chair of the Blockchain and … Continue Reading
On January 19, 2018, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in response to a question, warned that a U.S. person’s acquisition of, or dealing in, a cryptocurrency that Venezuela intends to issue in the future may violate OFAC sanctions. In an effort to refinance the country’s soaring debt, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás … Continue Reading
Understanding the Blockchain & Tokenization Revolution Thursday, February 15, 2018 5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Registration/doors open at 5:00 p.m. There is no charge to attend. Perkins Coie, Chicago Office 131 South Dearborn Street, Suite 1700 Chicago, IL 60603 Click here to register. Join the blockchain teams from Perkins Coie, bloq, and the Chicago Blockchain Center for … Continue Reading
On December 15, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) issued a proposed interpretation of the term “actual delivery” as used in the provision of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) that grants the CFTC explicit authority to oversee the marketplace for “retail commodity transactions.” This is the second blog posting in a … Continue Reading
On December 15, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) issued a proposed interpretation of the term “actual delivery” as used in the provision of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) that grants the CFTC explicit authority to oversee the marketplace for “retail commodity transactions”. This is the first blog posting in a … Continue Reading
It was a busy morning at the intersection of derivatives and virtual currencies. The world of virtual currencies is about to simultaneously become a lot more institutional and a lot more retail. Read an overview of what happened and some thoughts about what it means for the world of virtual currencies on our Derivatives & … Continue Reading
Upcoming Token Sale Presentations featuring Perkins Coie LLP! Webinars: The Token Sale Summit Webinar September 16 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (PST) Dax Hansen – is one of the featured speakers Free to attend: To register and more information, click here. ICOs: Regulatory Analysis by Jurisdictions Worldwide September 27, 2017 Sarah Hody – is one … Continue Reading
On May 2, 2016, during a keynote address at Consensus 2016, Jack Markell – Governor of Delaware from 2009 to 2017 – announced a comprehensive program to provide an enabling regulatory and legal environment for the development of blockchain technology in Delaware. As part of this initiative, Delaware implemented distributed ledger technology for the Delaware … Continue Reading
On July 25, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released groundbreaking materials relating to blockchain tokens. These materials provide significant and welcome insight to the SEC’s and its staff’s thinking in this area, although they leave a number of important questions unanswered. The SEC released a detailed investigative report under Section 21(a) of the … Continue Reading
On June 30, 2017, the SEC and the U.S. Attorney brought parallel civil and criminal fraud charges against Renwick Haddow, the owner of an unregistered broker-dealer entity named In Crowd Equity Inc., and two corporate entities named Bitcoin Store, Inc. and Bar Works, Inc. (SEC Litigation Release, US Attorney Press Release) In addition to filing the … Continue Reading
Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of publicly-reported news that may be of particular interest. U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates Illinois Regulators Determine that Digital … Continue Reading
Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of publicly-reported news that may be of particular interest. U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates Vermont Law Recognizes Digital Currency … Continue Reading
