On July 23, the New York State Department of Financial Services (the “DFS”) issued a press release announcing the establishment of a new Research and Innovation Division (the “Division”) within the DFS. The Division will take on the responsibility of licensing and supervising entities engaged in “virtual currency business activity” that fall within the scope … Continue Reading
Utah’s governor recently signed into law H.B. 378, which created a sandbox program for companies providing “innovative financial products or services” in the state. The program, run by Utah’s Department of Commerce, requires companies to apply and meet certain requirements in order to participate in the sandbox. Importantly, H.B. 378 specifically includes “blockchain technology” within … Continue Reading
Blockstack On July 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) qualified Blockstack PBC’s (“Blockstack’s”) offering circular, enabling Blockstack to commence sales and distribution of up to $40 million worth of its Stacks Tokens (“Stacks”) under Regulation A. This marks the first time in history that the SEC has qualified a Regulation A offering of … Continue Reading
On June 26, the price of bitcoin surged to a 12-month high of nearly $13,900 (up about 35% on the month) before losing more than $1,700 in a span of 15 minutes, then rebounding slightly and closing the day at around $12,800. All the while, retail and institutional investors seeking to gain exposure to this … Continue Reading
On April 11, Blockstack Token LLC (“Blockstack”) filed a preliminary offering circular with the SEC for a $50 million token offering under Regulation A of the Securities Act. The offering circular is now under review with the SEC and must be qualified (i.e., cleared) by the SEC before sales of Blockstack’s tokens (“Stacks Tokens”) can … Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently issued highly anticipated guidance to assist market participants in determining whether a digital asset is offered and sold as a security. On April 3, 2019, the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology published an analytical framework for evaluating whether the offer and sale of a digital … Continue Reading
In early March, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney unsealed indictments against the leaders of the Bulgarian-based “purported” cryptocurrency “OneCoin” on wire fraud, money laundering and federal securities fraud charges relating to an alleged $3 billion pyramid scheme devised to market OneCoin. OneCoin’s lawyer has also been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering for allegedly conducting … Continue Reading
Two recent proposals for bitcoin exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) are vying to become the first to receive approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) – one filed by CBOE BZX Exchange, Inc. (“CBOE”) and the other by NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”). The SEC has yet to approve a cryptocurrency ETF, although several applications … Continue Reading
On January 23, 2019, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) issued its widely anticipated “Guidance on Cryptoassets” consultation paper CP19/3 (the “Consultation”). The Consultation followed the UK Cryptoassets Task Force’s publication last October, which set out the UK’s policy and regulatory approach to cryptoassets and distributed ledger technology and called for the FCA to issue … Continue Reading
On January 24, 2019 the New York Department of Financial Services (the “DFS”) announced that it had granted BitLicenses to Robinhood Crypto, LLC and Moon Inc. (d/b/a LibertyX). These are the fifteenth and sixteenth BitLicenses granted by the DFS since the final BitLicense rules were released in 2015. Robinhood Crypto is a subsidiary of popular stock … Continue Reading
New York State has taken measures this year to modernize its approach to regulation for blockchain-based companies. Even before Assembly Bill A8783B established a government task force to study the effects of blockchain and digital assets on financial markets in the state, in October, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYSDFS”) announced that … Continue Reading
On November 16, the SEC announced that it settled charges against CarrierEQ, Inc. (“Airfox”) and Paragon Coin, Inc. (“Paragon”) for securities offering registration violations in connection with their respective initial coin offerings (“ICOs”). The settlement orders represent the first time the SEC has imposed civil penalties against ICO issuers solely for securities offering registration violations … Continue Reading
Recently at a conference in Dubai, Brian Quintenz, who is a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner, expressed his personal opinion (rather than the views of the CFTC) on the conceptual challenges in applying the CFTC’s regulatory oversight to, and fostering accountability for, smart contracts that reside on decentralized blockchains. In particular, Quintenz conveyed his … Continue Reading
On October 18, the SEC announced the launch of a new Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (the “FinHub”). The FinHub provides an online portal for market participants to engage with the SEC on a range of FinTech-related issues, including distributed ledger technology and digital assets. The FinHub contains a comprehensive repository of information … Continue Reading
The SEC announced a pair of settled orders on Tuesday extending additional provisions of the securities laws over ICOs and other digital assets – the agency’s first ever enforcement actions of their kind. As the SEC has been suggesting for over a year, because digital assets offered and sold in initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) are … Continue Reading
U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie of the Eastern District of New York has ruled that initial coin offerings (ICOs) may be subject to securities law. The ruling came in the court’s denial of defendant Maksim Zaslavkiy’s motion to dismiss an indictment that alleges that he committed securities fraud for selling tokens that he claimed represented … Continue Reading
Despite the recent setback of having their Bitcoin ETF rejected by the SEC for the second time, the Winklevoss brothers remain undeterred in their efforts to bring cryptocurrency into the investment mainstream. Their latest project is the Virtual Commodity Association (VCA), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the virtual currency industry aiming to serve in the same capacity … Continue Reading
For digitally savvy investors itching to know whether U.S. courts would treat crypto-tokens as securities subject to the regulatory requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the wait is over—sort of. The first federal judge to decide the issue in the class-action context landed on the same side as the SEC did back in 2017, … Continue Reading
On June 14, 2018, the New York State Department of Financial Services (the “DFS”) announced that the agency granted a virtual currency license (or “BitLicense”) to bitcoin wallet and vault provider Xapo, Inc., and authorized the blockchain financial services company Paxos Trust Company LLC to expand their business to offer exchange and custodial services to … Continue Reading
At last week’s Yahoo! All Markets Summit in Palo Alto, SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director William Hinman delivered a speech sure to send shockwaves through the crypto world. Applying the Howey test (which sets forth the elements necessary for determining whether a transaction involves the offer or sale of an “investment contract” and thus, … Continue Reading
On May 29, the SEC announced that it had secured injunctive relief halting an allegedly “ongoing fraud” involving an unregistered, non-exempt ICO that raised as much as $21 million in cryptoassets. The SEC’s complaint charges Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services, Inc., EHI Internetwork and Systems Management, Inc. and Michael Stollery, (collectively, the “Titanium defendants”) with fraud … Continue Reading
On April 17, 2018, the New York Attorney General’s Office (“OAG”) launched a Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative and sent letters to thirteen cryptoasset trading platforms requesting, through a questionnaire, disclosures on their operations, internal controls, and safeguards to protect customer assets. The questionnaire focused on six major topic areas, including: 1) Ownership and Control, 2) … Continue Reading
When a smart contract coding vulnerability resulted in the Parity wallet “freeze” that compromised over $150 million worth of user funds, we discussed the pitfalls of unsecure code in the context of cryptoassets and the extent to which software developers might be held liable to their users for losses arising from mistakes in, or the … Continue Reading
In a March 23 news release, the IRS reminded taxpayers that income from virtual currency transactions must be reported on income tax returns, and that certain virtual currency transactions are taxable like any other property transactions. Taxpayers should note that despite the pseudo-anonymity of virtual currencies, the IRS has been able to successfully subpoena a … Continue Reading
