U.S. Developments Litigation New York Resident Indicted for Duping Investors with Fake ICO Scam On November 6, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced a wire fraud charge against Asa Saint Clair, the operator of World Sports Alliance, which held itself out on its website as using sports to promote “economic development and social mobility” and claims an association with the United Nations. The U.S. Attorney, Geoffrey Berman, contends that…

U.S. Developments Mastercard and Food Co-Op Work Together on Food Visibility Blockchain Solution Envisible, a company that is dedicated to supply-chain visibility in food systems, has teamed up with Mastercard’s blockchain-based Provenance Solution to offer a food tracking system. The system is called Wholechain and will allow customers to know more about the source of the food they consume and its journey to their table. Topco Associates, one of the largest group purchasing organizations in…

U.S. Developments Mark Zuckerberg Testifies Before U.S. House of Representatives Regarding Libra On October 23, Facebook, Inc. CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, testified before the House Committee on Financial Services regarding Facebook’s efforts to launch Libra, a blockchain-based payments system.  Mr. Zuckerberg’s testimony described Libra as a tool for financial inclusion, which would also comply with relevant U.S. regulatory requirements. Early in his testimony, Mr. Zuckerberg promised that Libra would not launch anywhere in the world until…

U.S. Developments U.S. Federal Regulatory Developments CFTC, FinCEN, and SEC Leaders Release a Join Statement on Digital Assets On October 11, 2019, the heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a joint statement reminding those involved with digital assets about their obligations to protect against money laundering and terrorist financing, as required by the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). The statement clarifies that…

U.S. Developments REGULATORY House Passes Bill to Review How Blockchain Technology Can Improve FinCEN The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) that requires the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) to carry out a study on the status of implementation and internal use of blockchain and other emerging and innovative technologies to determine whether they can be leveraged to make FinCEN’s data analysis more efficient and effective,…

U.S. Developments Regulatory VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF Proposal Withdrawn. Facing an October 18 deadline for the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to approve or disapprove, Cboe BZX Exchange withdrew the proposed rule change to list and trade SolidX Bitcoin Shares issued by VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust on September 13, 2019. The decision had already been delayed on March 29, 2019, and August 12, 2019. This same exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) proposal was also withdrawn in January 2019…

U.S. Developments VanEck and SolidX to Offer Bitcoin ETF to Qualified Institutional Buyers On September 3, 2019, VanEck Securities Corp. and SolidX Management LLC announced that they are seeking to use Rule 144A of the Securities Act to issue shares in the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust to qualified institutional buyers. According to a joint statement by the companies, the shares would be the first Bitcoin product for institutional investors that are cleared and would feature…