Lowell D. Ness

Blogs: The Fintech Report, Virtual Currency Report

Latest Articles

SEC’s FinHub Publishes Framework for Digital Assets and SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance Grants First No-Action Relief to Token Sponsor

By Val Dahiya, Michael S. Didiuk, Jens Fischer, Lowell D. Ness, J. Dax Hansen, Keith Miller, Conor O'Hanlon & Taylor Lindman

April 12, 2019

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) published a framework on April 3, 2019, for analyzing whether a digital asset is offered and sold as a security under the federal securities laws. The framework includes “common sense guidance” that provides greater detail and clarity regarding the application of the federal securities laws to digital assets and is intended to be “an analytical tool to help market participants…

Virtual Currency Report

SEC Launches FinHub for Engaging with Fintech and Blockchain Companies

By J. Dax Hansen, Lowell D. Ness, Michael S. Didiuk, Val Dahiya, Taylor Lindman & Valeria R. Bystrowicz-Liendo

October 19, 2018

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 and how the SEC envisions industry participation. FinHub is designed to serve as a focal point for the…

Virtual Currency Report

Senior SEC Officials Provide Regulatory Clarity for Digital Assets

By Michael S. Didiuk, J. Dax Hansen, Jesse P. Kanach, Keith Miller, Lowell D. Ness, Thomas Ahmadifar, Conor O'Hanlon & Michael Selig

June 21, 2018

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 evaluating whether a given token sale qualifies as a securities offering. The Director clarified that a token sale may qualify…

Virtual Currency Report

Senior SEC Officials Provide Regulatory Clarity for Digital Assets

By Michael S. Didiuk, J. Dax Hansen, Jesse P. Kanach, Keith Miller, Lowell D. Ness, Thomas Ahmadifar, Conor O'Hanlon & Michael Selig

June 21, 2018

Virtual Currency Report

SEC Takes Aim at Initial Coin Offerings Again

By J. Dax Hansen, Lowell D. Ness, Keith Miller, Joseph P. Cutler, Simon Keen, Josh Boehm, Thomas Ahmadifar & Michael S. Didiuk

January 11, 2018

The SEC is targeting ICOs once again, but it is now adding more focus through its new Enforcement Division Cyber Unit. In its enforcement settlement with Munchee, Inc., the SEC looked past the utility of a “utility token” in its “securities” analysis and instead focused on aspects such as marketing and the existence of a secondary market for the tokens. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton issued a statement reinforcing that facts matter for each token sale,…

Virtual Currency Report

Delaware Law Embraces Digital Securities

By Lowell D. Ness & Valeria R. Bystrowicz-Liendo

August 1, 2017

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 Public Archives, as the beta test for the technology within State government. This smart records technology automates compliance with laws…

Virtual Currency Report

Blockchain and Digital Token Update: SEC Releases Investigative Report and Investor Bulletin

By J. Dax Hansen, Keith Miller, Jesse P. Kanach, Mary C. (Molly) Moynihan, Lowell D. Ness, Andrew P. Cross & Josh Boehm

July 26, 2017

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 Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and accompanying staff statement concluding that the 2016 token sale by The…

The Fintech Report

Welcome to The Fintech Report

By J. Dax Hansen, Sean Connery, Joseph P. Cutler, Keith Miller, Lowell D. Ness & Dana Syracuse

February 2, 2017

Welcome to The Fintech Report, a blog from Perkins Coie filled with insightful legal analysis of the impact of innovative technologies and processes on the financial industry. You can expect to read about the latest developments on regulatory changes, transactional issues and industry innovations. We’ll be covering topics across a wide spectrum of the fintech industry, including: Online and mobile payments Electronic financial services Cybersecurity and privacy Robo advising Online lending Artificial intelligence “AI” and…

Virtual Currency Report

Are Mining Pool Interests Securities?

By Lowell D. Ness & Laurie Rosini

December 7, 2015

On December 1st the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against bitcoin mining companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner, and their founder Homero Joshua Garza. The complaint alleges Garza and his companies fraudulently sold $19 million worth of unregistered securities, called Hashlets, to over 10,000 investors in the latter half of 2014. The SEC believes Hashlets constitute “investment contracts, and thus ‘securities’” under the Exchange Act and the Securities Act.…

Virtual Currency Report

California Legislature Proposes Virtual Currency License

By Lowell D. Ness, J. Dax Hansen, Dsu-Wei Yuen & Hailey You

March 7, 2015

On February 27, 2015, California Assembly member Matt Dababneh (D – Encino) introduced AB 1326, which would require virtual currency businesses to be licensed by the Department of Business Oversight (DBO). To get licensed, businesses must pay $5,000 to register, provide detailed information (including audited financials for the most recent year) and keep a specified amount of funds (established case by case by the Commissioner of the DBO) in certain types of investment-grade permissible…

Lowell D. Ness

SEC’s FinHub Publishes Framework for Digital Assets and SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance Grants First No-Action Relief to Token Sponsor

SEC Launches FinHub for Engaging with Fintech and Blockchain Companies

Senior SEC Officials Provide Regulatory Clarity for Digital Assets

Senior SEC Officials Provide Regulatory Clarity for Digital Assets

SEC Takes Aim at Initial Coin Offerings Again

Delaware Law Embraces Digital Securities

Blockchain and Digital Token Update: SEC Releases Investigative Report and Investor Bulletin

Welcome to The Fintech Report

Are Mining Pool Interests Securities?

California Legislature Proposes Virtual Currency License

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