Reed Smith Partner Herb Kozlov and Counsel Jeff Silberman recently appeared on a segment of “Innovators with Jane King” to discuss the United States regulatory landscape and future outlook regarding digital assets. The segment can be found here.…

On July 8, 2019 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) (both, the “Regulators”) published a Public Statement titled, “Joint Staff Statement on Broker-Dealer Custody of Digital Asset Securities” (the “Joint Statement”).  The Joint Statement follows many months of discussions with certain digital asset securities industry participants seeking registration with the SEC as broker-dealers. The Joint Statement noted the Regulators’ discussions with these industry participants have contributed…

On 3 July 2019, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) published its consultation paper on a proposed ban on the sale, marketing and distribution to retail clients of derivatives that reference certain types of cryptoassets (“CP 19/22”).[1] Background…

On June 21, 2019 the Financial Action Task Force (the “FATF”), published its long-awaited Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (the “Guidance”).  The FATF is tasked with setting standards and promoting effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin noted in his remarks that the…

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) recently published a consultation paper requesting submissions from stakeholders working with, or interested in, cryptoassets, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contracts. Submissions will inform a legal statement by UKJT which will aim to settle questions on the legal status of cryptoassets and smart contracts. UKJT is drawn from industry, government and the judiciary and was formed to facilitate the growth of the UK legal sector. Read the full report…

R. Raphael & Sons plc (Raphaels) has received fines totalling £1,887,252 from the FCA and PRA for repeated failings in relation to inadequate systems and controls supporting the oversight and governance of its outsourcing arrangements. Raphaels outsourced certain functions that supported payment services for its prepaid and charge card programmes in the UK and Europe to a service provider. These functions included the authorisation and processing of transactions made by users on these cards and management…