U.S. Developments Florida Court of Appeals Rules That Direct Sales of Bitcoin Constituted Money Transmission and the Sale of Payment Instruments Reversing the order issued by the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, the Florida Court of Appeals issued an opinion on January 30 in the case of Florida v. Espinoza in which the appellate court ruled … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Kik Publicizes Response to Possible SEC Enforcement On January 27, the Wall Street Journal published an article describing the impending legal battle over cryptocurrency Kin and its 2017 ICO. That same day, Ted Livingston, the founder and CEO of Canadian company Kik Interactive (Kik) and the developer behind Kin, published the Wells Notice … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Cboe Withdraws and Then Submits a Proposed Rulemaking for a Bitcoin ETF On January 22, 2019, Cboe BZX Exchange (Cboe) withdrew its proposed rulemaking with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Had the proposal been approved, Cboe would have been allowed to list shares of bitcoin electronically-traded funds (ETFs) backed by VanEck … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments SEC Remarks on International Virtual Currency Enforcement On December 5, 2018, Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), gave a speech at the IOSCO/PIFS-Harvard Law School Global Certificate Program for Regulators of Securities Markets on the topic of international cooperation in the enforcement of … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulation Upcoming Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (“ETF”) Decisions On January 4, 2018, NYSE Arca filed a proposed rule change to list 9 Bitcoin ETFs. Subsequently, the time for the Security Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to approve or disapprove was pushed back in March, April, July, and September. On August 22, 2018, the SEC disapproved the … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments The Federal Reserve Maintains Skepticism of Cryptocurrency Bitcoin On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of Bitcoin’s Whitepaper, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen stated that she does not recognize cryptocurrencies as legitimate currencies to be used anywhere in the global economy. The Chairman used bitcoin as an example and said that … 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
Week of October 15-19, 2018 U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates SEC Launches FinHub to Facilitate Public Engagement on FinTech Issues On October 18, the SEC launched FinHub, a new “Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology.” The SEC envisions that the hub will provide the public with a singular resource for engaging with the SEC on … 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 French data protection authority, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), became the first European data protection authority to issue written guidance on the intersection of the use of blockchain technology and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The CNIL guidance provides welcome clarification on how to tackle some of the inherent tensions … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Federal Bank Regulators Issue Joint Statement on Collaborative BSA/AML Compliance On October 3, 2018, a group of federal bank regulators and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) announced in a joint statement that banks and credit unions could collaborate and share resources to manage their Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and anti–money laundering (“AML”) … 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
The following summary is available in our sister blog, The Fintech Report. State Bank Regulators and NYDFS to renew litigation against OCC Blockchain Week in Review: Week of September 10-14, 2018 U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates U.S. Judge Says Initial Coin Offerings May Be Covered by Securities Law On September 11, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie … Continue Reading
The following summary are available in our sister blog, The Fintech Report. Varo Bank Receives Preliminary Approval for a National Bank Charter Blockchain Week in Review: Week of September 3-7, 2018 U.S. Developments New Appointments to the SEC and CFTC Have Their Eyes on Virtual Currency The U.S. Senate voted this week to confirm Dawn … Continue Reading
The following summary are available in our sister blog, The Fintech Report. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Announces FinTech Innovation Initiative Blockchain in Review – Week of August 20 – 24, 2018… Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates Ohio Enacts Cybersecurity Law with addition of Blockchain to Ohio’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act… 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… 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
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
Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past weeks. 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 SEC Chairman Testifies Before the House Committee … Continue Reading
