Opinion

May 3, 2018 @ 10:54 am By JD Alois  |  

As has been widely rumored, Goldman Sachs finally has outed itself regarding its cryptocurrency ambitions of launching a digital assets trading desk. NYT spoke to Goldman Sachs executive Rana Yared, who is helping set up the operations, who said that Bitcoin is not a fraud… Read More

May 3, 2018 @ 9:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Small Business Policy held a Twitter chat on Tuesday entitled #SECcrowdfundchat. The lightly attended discussion was scheduled to help inform small businesses as to how they may legally raise growth capital. In the US today,… Read More

May 2, 2018 @ 11:00 am By Dror Futter  |  

The US initial coin offering (ICO) market is the subject of a great deal of regulatory uncertainty resulting, in large part, from the absence of comprehensive guidance by the SEC.   The uncertainty has caused frustration for issuers and investors and has also been counter-productive… Read More

May 1, 2018 @ 9:11 am By JD Alois  |  

A Discussion with Malta Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy, and Innovation – Silvio Schembri Malta has quickly emerged as a popular location to set up blockchain based businesses. Globally, some countries have banned crypto operations, others have created rules by enforcement while most continue… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 4:00 am By AdaPia d'Errico  |  

Zoe Adamovicz is the CEO and co-founder of Germany-based Neufund. Neufund is a blockchain-based equity fundraising platform specializing in Legaltech and Regtech. She and co-founder Marcin Rudolf are building more than a platform. They are building an ecosystem of smart contracts and a community of… Read More

April 27, 2018 @ 4:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered this week at the Eurofi Summit, Commissioner Brian Quintenz, of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), addressed the topic of cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. Specifically, Quintez posed the question as to what should the proper role of a regulator be in… Read More

April 27, 2018 @ 1:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Malta’s cabinet has approved three bills to regulate cryptocurrency and blockchain industries within the country, including ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). The legislation will next be addressed in the Malta Parliament. ICOs are regarded by some as an innovative, efficient, disruptive and democratic means of funding… Read More

April 27, 2018 @ 7:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), along with a host of other public market advocates, published a paper yesterday urging policy makers to take action and address the decline of public companies. SIFMA stated the obvious that the decline in public companies creates… Read More

April 26, 2018 @ 12:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

It’s about time. The Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC) has published a white paper on Swaps Regulation Version 2.0. Entitled, An Assessment of the Current Implementation of Reform and Proposals for Next Steps, the unique aspect of this document is the fact that CFTC Chair J. Christopher… Read More

April 26, 2018 @ 8:43 am By Cali Haan  |  

The cofounders of Parity.io, a company that lost or lost access to nearly half a billion dollars of client funds last year, have stated in a blog post today that they are “deeply sorry” and have no intention of forking the Ethereum blockchain to recover… Read More

April 25, 2018 @ 5:41 pm By Carlos Domingo  |  

The crypto industry is in transition. The relatively young space that is built on an exciting, new technology platform called blockchain, or decentralized ledger technology (DLT), has enjoyed the attention of invigorated developers and investors. These players are working to define the future of the… Read More

April 24, 2018 @ 2:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The world of initial coin offering (ICO) investing is chock full of peril and risk, as well as opportunity. Purchasing a tokenized asset has become a trip to Vegas-like event as investors attempt to discern which ICO will rise and which offering will quickly plummet…. Read More

April 23, 2018 @ 9:57 am By JD Alois  |  

It is a truism that we need bank like services but we really do not need banks. The financial industry is going through a period of disaggregation where some services are being separated from a traditional, brick and mortar service, to Fintech verticals that may… Read More

April 23, 2018 @ 7:32 am By David Felsenthal and Jesse Overall  |  

In this article we discuss a number of lessons that we believe issuers of digital tokens can draw from recent enforcement actions brought by federal and state securities regulators. But we first need to define the perimeter we will be covering. There has been a… Read More

April 21, 2018 @ 4:49 pm By Cali Haan  |  

  Before Alena Vranova became one of Bitcoin’s early entrepreneurs in 2013, this cofounder of Satoshi Labs and Trezor Hardware Wallets spent ten years innovating in the insurance industry in her native Czech Republic. There, she learned her first lesson in industry disruption: “Don’t listen to people… Read More

April 20, 2018 @ 3:01 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Well-known “Bitcoin Maximalist” and despiser of ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings) Tone Vays has lately been so deluged with idiotic requests to advise on ICO’s that he has updated his LinkedIn profile to the following: “I am NOT interested in your ICO/Token Sale. Please send all requests… Read More

April 18, 2018 @ 12:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein told CNBC today they have not “lost their minds” by moving into the highly competitive consumer banking business with Marcus. Blankfein explained that the consumer business has moved to them because the digital world can allow them to scale. “If… Read More

April 16, 2018 @ 1:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Speaking at Vanderbilt University Law School this past week, Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo made some interesting comments. Giancarlo, a Commodore Alum, spoke about the digitization of finance (Fintech) and the subject of virtual currencies. Giancarlo reflected on time spent with… Read More

April 16, 2018 @ 9:56 am By JD Alois  |  

Traditional banks can be pretty horrible. Slow to embrace technology and tending towards a fee rich platform instead of a service that looks out for consumers, it is a truism that “people do not need banks, they need banking services” (as Bill Gates once said)…. Read More

April 13, 2018 @ 4:41 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In mid-March, The Government of Australia published tax guidelines for citizens and businesses using cryptocurrencies to invest, make or receive payments. The document, “Tax treatment of cryptocurrencies,” is fairly readable and the compliance procedures outlined quite reasonable. In short: “Our view is that Bitcoin…is an… Read More