On 24 November 2023, the Investment Association published a report on behalf of the wider Technology Working Group to the UK Government’s Asset Management Taskforce (the “Working Group”) on a “Blueprint” for the implementation of a fund tokenisation regime in
Blockchain and the Law
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Part II: NFT Lending — Legal Issues Involving Secured Transactions under the UCC, Pre- and Post-Article 9 and 12 Amendments
As discussed in Part I of this series, NFT-based lending is pioneering a new avenue of investment and activity on the blockchain that will enable new and innovative use cases. In this Part II, we will discuss the implications…
Part I: NFT Lending — Legal Issues Involving Secured Transactions under the UCC, Pre- and Post-Article 9 and 12 Amendments
By Jason Finger
Despite the protracted crypto bear market, innovators in non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) are hard at work. Gone are the days when NFTs were merely profile pictures (“PFPs”) displayed on a pseudonymous social media account or shown for their prestige online or…
CFTC Wades into DeFi Enforcement Again
Last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced settled charges against three decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols for various registration and related violations under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) during the relevant period of investigation. As a result, each entity…
Ownership Claims over Auction of “The First NFT” Previously Dismissed by a New York Court Now on Appeal
Way back (if we’re counting tech years) in 2014, artist Kevin McCoy (“McCoy”) created a digital record of his pulsating, octagon-shaped digital artwork Quantum on the Namecoin blockchain on May 2, 2014, thereby minting “the first NFT.” A lot has…
UK Financial Promotion Rules for Cryptoassets: Longer Implementation Period for Certain Requirements
On 7 September 2023, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) set expectations ahead of its new financial promotion rules for cryptoassets (which we wrote about here).
From 8 October 2023, new rules for the marketing of cryptoassets come…
Tokenised Funds – Key UK Regulatory Considerations
In its February 2023 discussion paper (DP23/2) relating to the UK regulatory regime for asset management, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) briefly touched on fund tokenisation as an area of technological drive and change in the fund management industry.…
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Introduce Competing Crypto Regulation Bills
By Ryan Harris & Elanit Snow
On July 12, 2023, U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proposed a revised version of their previously introduced crypto regulation bill to create better safeguards for the crypto industry generally while adding new, stronger consumer protection provisions…
Cryptocurrency Companies: Enforceable Terms of Use Matter
It is not unusual for users of a platform or of software to challenge the enforceability of a company’s terms of use if they take issue with the company’s product or service and decide to bring suit. As most terms…
From Code to Consequence: CFTC Obtains Default Judgment Against Ooki DAO for Commodity Exchange Act Violations
Unlike traditional corporate entities with a typical hierarchical structure, a decentralized autonomous organization (“DAO”) – a management structure that uses blockchain technology – functions as a leaderless entity. Without a formal corporate structure, DAOs instead operate by distributing governance rights…