At the Crossroads of Law, Innovation and Commerce
By Jim Bulling & Felix Charlesworth
On 18 March 2019, the Federal Australian Government announced its plan to establish the national blockchain roadmap (Roadmap) which intends to focus developing regulation, skills and capacity building, innovation, investment and international competitiveness in the emerging local blockchain industry.
Read MoreOn March 13, 2019, the American Bar Association’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee published a white paper called Digital and Digitized Assets: Federal and State Jurisdictional Issues. As stated in its preface, this White Paper was prepared by members of the Jurisdiction Working Group of the Innovative Digitized Products and Processes Subcommittee (“IDPPS”) and their colleagues, who generously contributed substantial time and effort to this ambitious undertaking. The authors have sought to provide a comprehensive explanation of federal and state laws that may apply to the creation, offer, use and trading of digital assets in the United States, along with summaries of key initiatives outside the United States. The White Paper also recommends an analytic framework for considering potential issues of jurisdictional overlap between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission under the separate federal statutes they each are responsible for administering.
Read MoreOn March 6th, the Chamber of Digital Commerce held its Fourth Annual D.C. Blockchain Summit. One of the first panels featured a discussion on the current and future contours of the digital asset regulatory regime with Daniel Gorfine, Director of LabCFTC; Kavita Jain, FINRA’s Director of the Office of Emerging Regulatory Issues; Jessica Renier, Senior Advisor on Domestic Finance for the Treasury Department; and Valerie Szczepanik, the SEC’s Senior Advisor for Digital Assets & Innovation.
Ms. Szczepanik explained that the SEC staff is developing guidance regarding digital assets but declined to provide a timetable for its release. She noted that whether a digital asset is a security will, as it does now, depend on whether it is an investment contract in light of its individual facts and circumstances. Ultimately, the SEC is seeking to promote financial innovation, capital formation, and wealth creation but in balance with investor protections.
Read MoreOn March 6th, the Chamber of Digital Commerce held its Fourth Annual D.C. Blockchain Summit. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo headlined the event. After the cheers for “Crypto Mom” and “Crypto Dad” died down, Commissioner Peirce and Chairman Ginacarlo shared their general views on next steps for digital asset regulation and principles by which regulators should oversee emerging financial technologies.
Read MoreJim Bulling and Felix Charlesworth
Following on from the Senate Hearings in January 2019, the Economic References Committee (Committee) published its Report on credit and financial services targeted at Australians at risk of financial hardship.
In addressing the current regulation of the buy now pay later (BNPL) industry, the Committee raised its concerns about the ease of accessibility of BNPL services to consumers experiencing financial hardship. Despite BNPL businesses, such as AfterPay and Zip.co stating that they already had algorithms in place to detect whether it was appropriate to provide services to an individual, the Committee stated that “clearly more needs to be done to ensure consumers are protected, and company algorithms alone are not sufficient.”
Read MoreBy Jim Bulling and Edwin Tan
Cryptocurrency exchanges have always been a prime target for hacking activity due to the vast amounts of cryptocurrency and money held within each exchange. Finding and exploiting weaknesses in exchanges can be very profitable for hackers, and such hacking activity has grown exponentially year on year.
In late December 2018, Coindesk published an article revealing that the amount of cryptocurrency stolen from exchanges increased 13 times in 2018 compared to 2017. Analytics firm Chainalysis reported that approximately $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from digital currency exchanges in 2018.
Read MoreSeveral states exempt from their money transmission law, either through statute or regulatory guidance, an “agent of the payee.” California is one such state. In general, the exemption applies to a party that a payee has appointed as its agent for purposes of receiving payment from a payor. The Department of Business Oversight (“DBO”), the agency that enforces California’s money transmitter law, has invited comments on a proposed rule making regarding the scope of the exemption. Comments are due by April 9, 2019.
Read MoreBy Cameron Abbott and Ella Richards
In an age where cyber security breaches are a near daily occurrence, and where we’re frequently reminded to keep our passwords secret and safe, the story that’s emerged regarding the fate of over AU$190 million of crypto-currency following the death of Gerald Cotten, the founder of Quadriga CX, is a little ironic to say the least.
The untimely death of the 30-year-old in December brought with it an unexpected sober reality – Mr Cotten was the only person with access to Quadriga’s coin reserve. No really … the ONLY person… you can see where this is going can’t you?
Read MoreBy Andrew C. Glass, Gregory N. Blase and Daniel S. Cohen
The rise of Big Data and the development of tools to interpret massive data sets to better understand consumer behavior have led to booming demand for consumers’ personal information. Technological advances have also made biometric data, such as fingerprints and facial features, useful security tools for electronic devices. The growing use of Big Data and biometric data has caused some concern among consumers and policymakers. In response, several state legislatures have taken steps to regulate companies’ ability to acquire personal and biometric data.
Read MoreThe Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) has been formally launched by an international group of financial regulators and related organisations. The GFIN is a network of 29 organisations of which 17 are currently offering cross-border trials for firms wishing to test FinTech products, services or business models across more than one jurisdiction. Those offering trials include the UK Financial Conduct Authority, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Dubai Financial Services Authority. GFIN members that are not participating in the initial trial scheme include the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the Israel Securities Authority and the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
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