In 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced in the Report of Investigation on The DAO its view that digital tokens (or coins or certain cryptocurrencies) can be securities, subject to regulation by the SEC under the federal securities laws. Last month, it flexed its regulatory muscle. For the first time, the SEC imposed civil […]
With attention focused on skyrocketing securities of Canadian companies such as Tilray ($TLRY) due to Canada’s country-wide legalization of cannabis on Wednesday, October 17, a groundbreaking case involving Colorado-based HempCoin ($HMP) has flown under the radar.
The implementation of the Volcker Rule, § 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which by statute generally prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary trading or from owning or controlling hedge funds or private equity funds, is almost complete.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a risk alert with information concerning common deficiencies in investment advisers’ compliance with their best execution obligations under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”).
Sitting in New Orleans on the banks of the Mississippi River, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently issued a hotly-anticipated mandate certifying its decision on the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule. The mandate in Chamber of Commerce of the USA v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 17-10238 (5th Cir. Jun. […]
Attention FCMs and IBs: is your anti-money laundering policy up-to-date? In a Notice dated May 22, 2018, the National Futures Association (NFA) asserted its intention to seek disciplinary action against futures commission merchants (FCMs) and introducing brokers (IBs) who do not have a written anti-money laundering (AML) program in place. This program must comply with […]
On May 11, 2018, the new Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions (the “CDD Rule” or the “Rule”)[1] are scheduled to come into effect. On April 3 of this year, the promulgator of the CDD Rule, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), issued a new Guidance[2] to assist covered financial institutions[3] in understanding the scope of the […]
Regulation of cryptocurrencies and other financial technology innovations varies greatly across jurisdictions. While some countries take a hands-off approach to encourage growth of new industries, others seek to control markets to protect investors or for political reasons. Predictably, as countries compete to land FinTech companies, many new businesses gravitate toward the less onerous compliance regimes, […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order last week declaring an ICO token to be a security and hence subject to corresponding regulation. Following on from its similar ruling with respect to The DAO on July 25th, the SEC held that Munchee Inc.’s efforts to promote its supposed “utility token” so emphasized the […]
On Friday, December 1st, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) agreed to allow trading of bitcoin derivatives on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE), and the Cantor Exchange. The CME and CFE both self-certified new contracts for bitcoin futures, while the Cantor Exchange self-certified a new contract for binary options on […]