On November 28, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), announced an action against two Iranian citizens, Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, who facilitated the exchange of bitcoin ransom payments on behalf of Iranian malicious cyber actors. This client update provides an overview of the OFAC action and identifies certain … Continue Reading
The following was posted on the Perkins Coie’s Asset Management ADVocate, to read the full post, please click here. 2018 Recap: Tokens, Coins, Cryptocurrencies, and Other Digital Assets under the Federal Securities Laws By Michael S. Didiuk on November 13, 2018 Posted in Compliance In this post we discuss where things stand regarding the treatment … Continue Reading
The following was posted on the Perkins Coie’s Asset Management ADVocate, to read the full post, please click here. EtherDelta Founder Sanctioned for Operating an Unregistered Securities Exchange By Michael S. Didiuk and Conor O’Hanlon on November 9, 2018 Posted in Compliance In this post we discuss how on November 8, the SEC announced an … Continue Reading
The following was posted on the Perkins Coie’s Asset Management ADVocate, to read the full post, please click here. 2017 Recap: Tokens, Coins, Cryptocurrencies, and Other Digital Assets under the Federal Securities Laws – Facts and Circumstances By Michael S. Didiuk on November 12, 2018 This post focuses on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates FATF Issues Virtual Currency Guidance On October 19, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) published the outcomes of its Plenary meeting. Included in the outcomes of the meeting were new recommendations related to the regulation of virtual currency (the “2018 Virtual Currency Recommendations”). In addition to the 2018 Virtual Currency Recommendations, … Continue Reading
On October 18, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced the launch of the agency’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub).[1] FinHub is a resource for industry engagement between financial technology companies (fintechs), market participants, the public, and the SEC. This client update provides a high-level overview of the FinHub initiative … Continue Reading
On October 11, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released an advisory (the Advisory) intended to help money services businesses (MSBs) and foreign financial institutions better understand how U.S. sanctions on Iran affect their compliance obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) rules and under the … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates FinCEN Issues Advisory on Illicit Iranian Activities On October 11, 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an advisory to help money services businesses and foreign financial institutions better understand the U.S. Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (“AML/CFT”) risks related to Iranian activity. The report encourages … Continue Reading
The SEC and FINRA recently announced a series of enforcement actions against new types of actors in the digital asset space—private fund managers and broker-dealers.… Continue Reading
The following summary is available in our sister blog, The Fintech Report. Roundup of CFTC Resources Blockchain Week in Review: Week of September 24-28, 2018 U.S. Developments Cryptocurrency and the Colorado Money Transmitter License Act On September 20, 2018, following months of consultation with the Colorado Attorney General’s office, Colorado’s Division of Banking released interim … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Hester Peirce Remarks at Cato Institute Conference Hester Peirce made remarks at the Cato Institute’s Fintech Unbound conference on September 12, 2018. Commissioner Peirce commented that securities regulators are too risk averse, stating that “capital markets are all about taking risk, and queasiness around risk-taking is particularly inapt” and that “a key purpose … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared in The Derivatives and Repo Report, and can be accessed here.: This post is the second in a series that outlines key considerations for investment funds and their advisers regarding the application of the U.S. commodity laws to cryptocurrency derivatives. In Part 1, we focused on the status of cryptocurrencies as … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared in The Derivatives and Repo Report, and can be accessed here.: In this multi-part posting, we outline key considerations for investment funds and their advisers regarding the application of the U.S commodity laws to cryptocurrency derivatives. Part 1 focuses on the status of cryptocurrencies as commodities and how that status relates … Continue Reading
“Why Blockchain Custody Is So Difficult—Paths Forward?” was recently posted on Perkins Coie’s Asset Management ADVocate blog. The blog post completes the analysis of the difficult question of how to comply with regulations requiring independent custody of cryptocurrency. This series focuses on the custody requirements for registered investment companies in an attempt to respond to … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates Ohio Enacts Cybersecurity Law with addition of Blockchain to Ohio’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act… 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
From Uncertainty toward Regulatory Clarity: Senior SEC Officials Provide Regulatory Clarity for Digital Assets Summary is below, please click here for the full alert narrative. On June 14, 2018, the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission delivered a speech outlining the framework used by the SEC Staff in … 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
