Category:FinTech Industry & Regulation

1
SDNY Rules Ripple’s XRP token is NOT a Security
2
Australia: Payments Reform – Generational Change Coming
3
Australia: Regulating AI in Australia – emerging issues
4
SEC’s Stunning Enforcement Actions against Binance and Coinbase
5
Australia: Expanding AML requirements for digital currency exchanges
6
CFPB Raises Alarms Without Providing All the Facts
7
Australia: ASIC revises its IDR reporting framework – are you ready?
8
CFTC Chair Asserts Jurisdiction Over Fiat-Based Stablecoins
9
EU/Luxembourg Update: New Blockchain/ DLT Pilot Regime for Financial Instruments Becomes Effective on March 23
10
In a Rare Decision On Abandoned Property Law, The US Supreme Court Rules Against Delaware

SDNY Rules Ripple’s XRP token is NOT a Security

By Andrew Hinkes and Eden Rohrer

On July 13, 2023, in a long awaited decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple Labs, Inc., Bradley Garlinghouse and Christian A. Larsen, Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on the cross-summary judgement motions finding that Defendant Ripple Labs’  XRP Token is not a security, handing the SEC a stunning defeat on many arguments that have been advanced by the SEC in multiple enforcement actions affecting issuers and exchanges of digital assets.

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Australia: Payments Reform – Generational Change Coming

By Daniel Knight and Simon Kiburg

Earlier this month the government released a raft of documents on the future of payments regulation in Australia. These documents are:

In this Blog Post we take a deeper look at some of the key proposals from the Consultation Papers and what they will mean for operators in the payments ecosystem.

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Australia: Regulating AI in Australia – emerging issues

By Daniel KnightCameron AbbottRob PulhamDadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

Amid global calls for tailored regulation of artificial intelligence tools, the Australia Federal Government has released a discussion paper on the safe and responsible use of AI.  The Government is consulting on what safeguards are needed to ensure Australia has an appropriate regulatory and governance framework.

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SEC’s Stunning Enforcement Actions against Binance and Coinbase

By Drew Hinkes, Cliff Histed, Judie Rinearson, Eden Rohrer, Max Black

In a stunning move, over the last two days, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has filed back-to-back enforcement actions against major crypto exchanges Binance (See https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2023/comp-pr2023-101.pdf) and Coinbase (See https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2023/comp-pr2023-102.pdf . This clearly indicates that the SEC is flexing its enforcement power over both international exchanges as well as those exchanges with a focus on the United States.

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Australia: Expanding AML requirements for digital currency exchanges

By Daniel Knight and Grace Hall

The Australian Government has committed to reforming Australia’s AML/CTF regime, with proposed reforms set to impact digital currency exchange (DCE) providers.

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CFPB Raises Alarms Without Providing All the Facts

By Judie Rinearson and Jeremy McLaughlin

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent Consumer Alert was certainly well intentioned. Many consumers (including the authors) who hold funds in payment apps (such as Venmo and Paypal) should be made aware that the funds are usually NOT held in an FDIC-insured bank.  But that doesn’t mean the funds are necessarily unprotected.

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Australia: ASIC revises its IDR reporting framework – are you ready?

By Daniel Knight and Hugo Chow

All holders of an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) with a retail client authorisation will need to comply with ASIC’s internal dispute resolution (IDR) reporting framework. Summary reports will need to be provided to ASIC on a 6 monthly basis, highlighting the status of each client complaint. Reporting obligations commence from 1 July 2023 (for reporting in January or February 2024). AFSL holders should put systems in place now to ensure all required information is being captured.

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CFTC Chair Asserts Jurisdiction Over Fiat-Based Stablecoins

By Cheryl L. Isaac and Maxwell J. Black

Last week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chair Rostin Behnam asserted that fiat-based stablecoins (such as USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Binance USD (BUSD), all of which are pegged to an underlying fiat currency) should be considered as commodities, subject to the CFTC’s enforcement jurisdiction. 

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EU/Luxembourg Update: New Blockchain/ DLT Pilot Regime for Financial Instruments Becomes Effective on March 23

By Dr. Jan Boeing and Maxime Barthez[1],

Luxembourg and the EU have taken an important step forward in the area of blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (“DLT”). With a view to removing regulatory hurdles to the issuance, trading and post-trading of many financial instruments for which an EU regulatory framework already exists (such as the regulation of transferable securities, units in collective investment undertakings and derivatives under MiFIR, MiFID II and CSDR[2]), the EU has put in place the DLT Pilot Regime through Regulation (EU) 2022/858 of 30 May 2022. The new DLT Pilot Regime applies (with certain limitations) to all (traditional) financial instruments within the meaning of MiFID II[3] that are issued, recorded, transferred and stored using blockchain or distributed ledger technology (“DLT Financial Instruments”).

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In a Rare Decision On Abandoned Property Law, The US Supreme Court Rules Against Delaware

By Judie Rinearson, Jennifer Crowder, and Jeremy McLaughlin

On February 28, 2023, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in the abandoned property lawsuit, Delaware v. Pennsylvania (see https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/145orig_kjfl.pdf)

The question addressed by the Court focused on which state was entitled to collect unclaimed property, which arose from  two financial products sold by banks on behalf of Moneygram: Agent Checks and Teller’s Checks (collectively, the “Checks”).

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