In its first enforcement action of the year involving ICOs, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two companies and their founder for violations of antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with an initial
Blockchain and the Law
Ringing in the New Year: Regulators and Industry Seek to Bring Stability to Stablecoins in 2022. How (Much), Remains a Question.
By Jason Finger
On December 17, 2021, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) – a collaborative body formed under the Dodd-Frank Act composed of state and federal regulators and tasked with identifying risks and responding to emerging threats to financial stability – released…
In the Coming ‘Metaverse’, There May Be Excitement but There Certainly Will Be Legal Issues
The concept of the “metaverse” has garnered much press coverage of late, addressing such topics as the new appetite for metaverse investment opportunities, a recent virtual land boom, or just the promise of it all, where “…
SEC Halts DAO’s Registration of Two Stable Tokens as Securities, Alleging Material Deficiencies in the Disclosure
On November 10, 2021, the SEC announced that it had instituted proceedings against a Wyoming-based decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to halt its registration of two digital tokens, alleging that disclosure in the organization’s registration statement was deficient and contained materially…
Treasury Department Steps Up Its Counter-Ransomware Efforts and Simultaneously Issues New Sanctions Compliance Guidance for Virtual Currency Industry
Recently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, released a report on ransomware trends stating that during the first half of 2021, 68 different ransomware variants extracted approximately $600 million from victims across the…
U.S. Federal Regulators Turn Up the Heat on Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms
With new types of digital assets and related business on the rise, federal authorities have been busy investigating. Recently, the SEC, FinCEN and the CFTC have imposed some notable settlements involving cryptocurrency trading platforms for allegedly operating without appropriate approvals…
SEC Brings Charges against Allegedly Fraudulent Unregistered Decentralized Finance Project That Ran on the Ethereum Platform
On August 6, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had charged two men, Gregory Keough and Derek Acree, and their company, Blockchain Credit Partners, doing business as DeFi Money Market (collectively, the “Respondents”), for unregistered sales…
SEC Chair’s Remarks Suggest Crypto is the “Wild West,” Signaling Future Enforcement and Desire for Enhanced Regulatory Authority
Gary Gensler, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), attracted a lot of attention following his remarks at the Aspen Security Forum earlier this month, asking Congress for more authority “to write rules for and attach guardrails to crypto…
When is a Token More Than a Token? SEC Settlement over Anti-Touting Provision Raises Familiar Questions
DOJ Tax Division Shows Sustained Interest in Cryptocurrency
On May 5, 2021, another federal district court, this time for the Northern District of California, permitted the IRS to proceed with a John Doe summons very similar to the one served on Circle last month (the subject of a …