Politics, Legal & Regulation

August 26, 2018 @ 6:00 pm By Steven McClurg  |  

The SEC Rejects Bitcoin ETF Proposals. The SEC has rejected nine more Bitcoin ETF proposals, one of them from a fairly well-established ETF distributor, ProShares.  The ProShares filing was due for comments on Thursday, but the SEC promptly responded a day early, as well as… Read More

August 26, 2018 @ 1:31 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The head of Russia’s Main Directorate for Drug Trafficking, Andrey Khrapov, has asked the country’s legislators to require that all cryptocurrency transactions exceeding 600 000 rubles ($900 USD) be registered with or monitored by Russian authorities, Izvestia reports. Mr Khrapov reportedly contacted the Ministry of… Read More

August 24, 2018 @ 2:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to a survey from Ripio, users in Latin America overwhelmingly believe blockchain will take over the financial system within the next decade. Ripio is a peer to peer credit network that operates on blockchain. The Ripio wallet has over 200,000 users and is one of… Read More

August 24, 2018 @ 12:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

More news from China today regarding that country’s ban on citizens’ access to cryptocurrencies. According to The South China Morning Post, China will now block access to an additional 120 foreign cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitfinex, Binance, Huobi and OKEx are already blocked in China. When China announced… Read More

August 24, 2018 @ 11:14 am By Cali Haan  |  

An SEC decision to disapprove the listing of several Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE) has been stayed pending review. Commissioner Hester Pierce announced the stay yesterday on Twitter. The SEC had ruled the day before to deny a rule change… Read More

August 24, 2018 @ 9:13 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has won a big victory in a trial against Patrick K. McDonnell and CabbageTech Crop – a company that was doing business as Coin Drop Markets. McDonnel, and his company, was assessed penalties and restitution of over $1.1 million as… Read More

August 24, 2018 @ 7:30 am By Onki Kwan  |  

The vision Behind Regulation Crowdfunding Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) allows any business to raise up to $1.07 million without a public registeration with the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The idea behind Regulation Crowdfunding is to enable small businesses and startups to leverage the advertising power… Read More

August 23, 2018 @ 11:42 am By Cali Haan  |  

A total ban on ICOs, cryptocurrencies and related exchanges enacted in China last September has hit the ground twice in the past two weeks, The South China Morning Post reports. Chinese government censors shut down at least 8 crypto-focused media accounts on Chinese social media site… Read More

August 23, 2018 @ 9:43 am By Cali Haan  |  

The SEC has rejected the Cboe BZX Exchange’s request for a rule change to allow it to trade long and short Bitcoin Futures ETFs (exchange-traded funds). The Cboe applied in January for the rule change that would allow its GraniteShares Bitcoin ETF “Long Fund” and… Read More

August 23, 2018 @ 8:43 am By JD Alois  |  

FINRA ( Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) has been doing a series of podcasts, called FINRA Unscripted, for some time now. Their most recent segment covered Fintech posing the rhetorical question as to how regulators are keeping up with the pace of change. In 2017, FINRA… Read More

August 22, 2018 @ 11:07 pm By Christopher Sands  |  

Lawyers are being pulled into crypto startups at an astonishing rate.  On nearly a daily basis, we are seeing high quality founders / projects seeking to hire lawyers in the space.  Over the last month, our General Counsel network has seen no less than ten… Read More

August 22, 2018 @ 7:20 am By Cali Haan  |  

The commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) told attendees at an auditors’ conference in Sandton this week that SARS is stepping up efforts to identify crypto traders and collect related taxes, FIN24 reports. “The key thing is identifying people who are trading because… Read More

August 21, 2018 @ 10:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, CI reported on a class action lawsuit filed against Unikrn and their initial coin offering (ICO). The company raised approximately $30 million in an ICO in late 2017. Unikrn was founded by Rahood Sahul, who is no neophyte when it comes to tech and venture capital…. Read More

August 21, 2018 @ 10:56 am By Cali Haan  |  

A judge’s plan to allow a young man accused of hacking a popular online video game system to post $750 000 bail in cryptocurrency have hit a snag, Market Watch reports. Martin Marsich, 25, was arrested at San Francisco Airport August 8th while reportedly on… Read More

August 20, 2018 @ 11:08 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The man accused of leading the Bitconnect cryptocurrency pyramid scheme in India was arrested this weekend at an airport in New Delhi, Financial Express reports. Divyesh Darji was en route to Ahmenabad, the capital of the Indian state of Gujarat, from Dubai, where he had… Read More

August 20, 2018 @ 8:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

The initial coin offering (ICO) frenzy is a starting to move beyond its toddler years. After a slow start, ICOs rocketed into public awareness with high profile funding rounds and ridiculous scams accompanied by heightened speculation on unregulated crypto exchanges. Crowdsales generated offerings in the… Read More

August 20, 2018 @ 4:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Michael (Mike) B. Rothenberg, and his firm Rothenberg Ventures with fraud. Rothenberg, and his company, has agreed to settle the charges without admitting nor denying the allegations incorporated in the SEC complaint. The SEC states that Rothenberg’s… Read More

August 20, 2018 @ 12:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

21-year-old Jacob Burrell Campos has been charged by the US Attorney in Southern California with 31 counts of money laundering, operating an illegal money transmitting business, and conspiracy to structure the importation of monetary instruments. The charges stem from evidence indicating Mr Burrell laundered millions of… Read More

August 20, 2018 @ 11:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Virtual Commodity Association Schedules Inaugural Meeting for September A group of industry participants have joined together to create the Virtual Commodity Association (VCA) with the goal of evolving into a self regulatory organization (SRO). The creation of the VCA was revealed earlier this year but… Read More

August 19, 2018 @ 10:49 am By Cali Haan  |  

People with loose security online habits who also enjoy an occasional foray onto incriminating websites might want to keep some bitcoin on hand in case exposé hackers come calling. An August 7th public service announcement from the FBI says the agency is seeing an uptick… Read More