On December 17th, Alan Cohn hosted the 244th episode of The Cyberlaw Podcast. We took a deep dive into all things blockchain and cryptocurrency discussing recent regulatory developments and projections for 2019.
Our episode begins with Alan welcoming Will Turner, who recently joined Steptoe’s Corporate and Blockchain Practices as partner in the firm’s Chicago office. Will Turner explains why the crypto market became bear in 2018, associating this development to the increase in mergers & acquisitions activity in the crypto market. Moving into 2019, Will projects the “hot items” will be anti-money laundering and securities compliance. Evan Abrams discusses the joint statement issued by the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the National Credit Union Administration urging use of technology to bolster anti-money laundering compliance. Abrams also highlights the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recent announcement authorizing Signature Bank, a New York State-chartered bank, to offer a digital payment platform that leverages blockchain technology called Signet. Finally, Josh Oppenheimer covers recent LabCFTC updates from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Oppenheimer also discusses the pledge the G20 nations made earlier this month regarding their commitment to regulate crypto-assets to further a resilient and open global financial system.
For the interview portion of our podcast, Alan welcomes back Gary Goldsholle, who joins the firm as partner, after serving nearly four years as deputy director and senior adviser of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Trading and Markets. Goldsholle discusses some of the SEC’s recent activity, including charging two cryptocurrency companies who conducted initial coin offerings in violation of the securities registration rules and settling an order against EtherDelta for operating as an unregistered “exchange.” This activity has significant implications for the industry regarding regulatory oversight and enforcement of cryptocurrency companies.
You can read the full summary and listen to the podcast here.