Politics, Legal & Regulation

September 24, 2018 @ 10:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) has published its report on security breaches at financial services firms. According to the regulator, financial services firms have failed in their duty to protect their users and to notify them when they fall short of their fiduciary… Read More

September 22, 2018 @ 10:41 am By JD Alois  |  

A letter authored by a group of prominent cryptocurrency / blockchain advocates was forwarded to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. The letter was addressed to Dalia Blass, Director of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC, specifically mentioning the Commission’s Staff… Read More

September 21, 2018 @ 10:13 am By JD Alois  |  

The saga of the GAW Miners / ZenMiner fraud has come to an end. On September 13, 2018, the perpetrator of the fraud, Homero Joshua Garza, was sentenced to 21 months of imprisonment. The criminal action was completed alongside an SEC civil enforcement action. The US… Read More

September 21, 2018 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered this week, Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), discussed their approach to dealing with the avalanche of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and digital assets in general. Avakian said that as of the Q2… Read More

September 20, 2018 @ 7:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has scheduled an open meeting to be held next Thursday, September 27, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. to consider the following items: Proposed Rule Amending Registration and Compliance Obligations for Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs) and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) Fintech Cooperation… Read More

September 20, 2018 @ 3:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

UK blockchain startup BlockEx has formerly thrown its support behind some of the recommendations pitched by the UK Parliament Treasury Committee that issued a pointed report pertaining to cryptocurrencies this week. BlockEx is a digital asset exchange and also a participant in the Financial Conduct… Read More

September 20, 2018 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has scheduled a meeting of its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) to take place on October 5th at the CFTC HQ in Washington, DC. The meeting begins at 10AM and continues to approximately 3:30PM ET. According to the CFTC, the… Read More

September 20, 2018 @ 9:50 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has issued emergency cease and desist orders against three ICO/cryptocurrency projects soliciting investors in Texas: Coins Miner Investment Ltd., DGBK Ltd. (DigitalBank) and Ultimate Assets LLC. All three projects allegedly used misleading information to promote their projects, and none… Read More

September 19, 2018 @ 10:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has issued a statement indicating it has taken action against “misleading Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and crypto-asset funds” which have targeted retail investors.  ASIC said it has stopped several ICOs or “token generation events.” These ICOs have been… Read More

September 19, 2018 @ 3:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Some time ago, the New York Attorney General launched the Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative (VMII) to “protect and inform”residents who trade in cryptocurrency. New York Attorney GeneralGeneral Barbara D. Underwood commented on the release of the report: “New Yorkers deserve basic transparency and accountability when… Read More

September 19, 2018 @ 12:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

A Parliamentary Treasury Committee has published an extensive report on the regulatory environment pertaining to cryptocurrency in the UK. As part of the report, a good amount of ink was dedicated to the global regulatory approach regarding blockchain based digital assets. One regulatory entity received… Read More

September 19, 2018 @ 9:25 am By Cali Haan  |  

The UK can no longer rely on “feeble” warnings to consumers from its securities regulator and should swiftly extend existing legislation to govern the cryptocurrency and digital asset sector in country, says a Parliament Treasury Committee established in February to examine the matter. After doing its… Read More

September 19, 2018 @ 9:06 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a public warning on bogus websites that are soliciting investments in Bitcoin. At least two of these sites is using “fabricated comments” attributed to MAS Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam. MAS says the statements attributed to… Read More

September 18, 2018 @ 9:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The People’s Bank of China admitted today that it is responsible for coordinating and initiating a spate of recent measures designed to quash cryptocurrency and ICO (initial coin offering) activity China. The bank says its National Internet Financial Risk Special Remediation Leading Group has been orchestrating… Read More

September 18, 2018 @ 11:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Securities and Exchange Commissioner (SEC) Hester Peirce delivered a speech at the Cato Fintech event in SF this week tackling an important topic: That of regulators (and policymakers in general) being too risk averse. This is a truism in policy. We elect, or appoint, public… Read More

September 17, 2018 @ 9:42 am By Cali Haan  |  

Securities litigations against cryptocurrency projects in the US have tripled in 2018, Law.com reports, and the SEC under new Chairperson Jay Clayton is leading the charge in 30% of cases. In “Securities Litigation Report of 2018,” legal analytics firm Lex Machina found 45 cases filed… Read More

September 17, 2018 @ 7:53 am By Cali Haan  |  

Costs presently outweigh benefits, and so the European Central Bank (ECB), “has no plans to issue a central bank digital currency,” at this time, though it is investigating the matter, says ECB president, Mario Draghi. Draghi made the comments in a September 12th letter responding… Read More

September 14, 2018 @ 5:00 pm By Joshua Ashley Klayman  |  

As has been reported widely, digital token sales (sometimes referred to as initial coin offerings or ICOs) arguably are becoming increasingly important as a new form of capital raising.  To date, certain regulators (including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)) have provided ongoing… Read More

September 14, 2018 @ 1:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Indian Cabinet, Chaired by Prime Minister Modi, has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pertaining to “Collaborative Research on Distributed Ledger and Blockchain Technology in the context of Development of digital economy by Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) with the participating member banks,… Read More

September 13, 2018 @ 5:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

A Special Commission of the National Assembly in France approved a key framework today in pursuit of bespoke regulation for initial coin offerings (ICOs). This is according to a report in Les Echos that stated “Article 26” was adopted earlier today – part of the… Read More