Broker-Dealers

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On February 26, 2020, the Security and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Division of Examinations (the “Division”) published a Risk Alert, “The Division of Examinations’ Continued Focus on Digital Asset Securities.” In the Risk Alert, the Division offered insight into its current examination focus with respect to the activities of market participants, including investment advisers, concerning digital assets that are securities (“Digital Asset Securities”) and distributed ledger technologies.

The Alert outlines the observations of the Division, which were the product of examinations of investment advisers, broker-dealers, and transfer agents and their use of Digital Asset Securities. At only eight pages, the Alert is not an exhaustive compliance document for market participants and does not detail explicitly how firms might remain in compliance with securities laws and regulations.  The Division’s outline of the risks it has observed from recent examinations is, however, a useful roadmap, outlining the areas of focus for the Division’s future examinations and compelling firms to take another look at their relevant compliance practices.  It also raises some questions about the scope of the applicability of federal securities to digital assets that have yet to be explored.

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…

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 likely to fall under the definition of securities, businesses that invest in them, or that offer, sell or trade them need to consider their obligations under the Investment Company Act, the Advisers Act and the Securities Act.