Tag: crypto

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High-Level Summary: Solving Common Failures in NFT Licensing
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Crypto Platform Kraken Pays $30 Million and Ceases Staking Services to Settle SEC Charges
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UK Regulation of Cryptoassets – Another Glimpse but Still None the Wiser
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Federal Reserve Issues Policy Statement Limiting Crypto-Activities of State Member Banks
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DeFi Regulatory Alert: CFTC Files Its First Ever Oracle Manipulation Case
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MiCA is Here:  European Ground-breaking Rules for the Cryptocurrencies Market
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California’s Executive Order Embraces Crypto
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Satoshi Goes to Washington : Senator Toomey Issues RFI to Inform Digital Asset Legislation
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FATF report to the G20 on stablecoins
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An Empire State Glimmer of Hope for Crypto

High-Level Summary: Solving Common Failures in NFT Licensing

By Drew Hinkes, Elizabeth Thomsen, Josh Durham

As blockchain and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are still new technologies, their legal infrastructure is still developing, creating potential vulnerabilities. Three such vulnerabilities were exposed in our previous article, available here. We have now issued a follow-up Alert that explores solutions to such licensing failures.  This blog is a high-level summary;  the full alert can be found here.

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Crypto Platform Kraken Pays $30 Million and Ceases Staking Services to Settle SEC Charges

By Drew Hinkes, Carly Howard, and Judie Rinearson

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement with the digital assets/cryptocurrency exchange Kraken whereby Kraken agreed to cease offering or selling securities through its crypto asset staking services, and agreed to pay a penalty of $30 million (comprising disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties).

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UK Regulation of Cryptoassets – Another Glimpse but Still None the Wiser

By Kai Zhang and Judie Rinearson

On 1 February, UK Government commenced another consultation on regulating cryptoassets (other initiatives consulted earlier remain being considered/legislated) which will close on 30 April. This is a consultation on the overall policy approach, i.e. no detailed rules.

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Federal Reserve Issues Policy Statement Limiting Crypto-Activities of State Member Banks

By Grant F. Butler, Carly E. Howard, Andrew M. Hinkes

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (the “FRB”) issued a policy statement that interprets Section 9(13) of the Federal Reserve Act to limit state member banks to engage as principal in only activities that are (a) permissible for a national bank or (b) explicitly permissible for state banks under federal law.  The activity restrictions apply equally to insured and uninsured state member banks supervised directly by the FRB. 

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DeFi Regulatory Alert: CFTC Files Its First Ever Oracle Manipulation Case

By Andrew M. Hinkes, Clifford C. Histed, Cheryl L. Isaac, and Maxwell J. Black

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a civil enforcement action this week against Avraham Eisenberg, charging him with a scheme to defraud others and engage in price manipulation (as announced by the CFTC here). While there have been other enforcement actions related to decentralized finance (“DeFi”) protocols, this is the first case in which the CFTC has charged a person for fraud in connection with “oracle manipulation” on a decentralized exchange.  In addition to this CFTC action, the U.S. Department of Justice previously charged Eisenberg with criminal fraud and commodity price manipulation in connection with this same alleged scheme.

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California’s Executive Order Embraces Crypto

By Jeremy McLaughlin and Christian A. Zazzali

On May 4, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on digital assets largely echoing the positive sentiments of President Biden’s February executive order. The order looks to create transparent regulation around digital assets and drive innovation into the state. By directing state agencies to engage in a cooperative discussion with stakeholders and developers in web3, California seeks to create an informed supplement to the federal report on digital assets, which is due in September. 

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Satoshi Goes to Washington : Senator Toomey Issues RFI to Inform Digital Asset Legislation

By Jeremy M. McLaughlin, Judith Rinearson, and Daniel S. Cohen

As we have noted in the past, federal regulation of the digital asset/cryptocurrency/DeFi community is evolving and there are many perspectives on what direction it should take. For instance, earlier this week, the House Democratic leadership and a group of moderate House Democrats agreed to a compromise that would prevent the House of Representatives from amending the Senate-passed “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (H.R. 3684), thereby preserving the bill’s provisions expanding the definition of “broker” under the Internal Revenue Code to apply to various digital asset market participants.

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FATF report to the G20 on stablecoins

By Giovanni Campi

Stablecoins have attracted much regulatory attention lately. The G7 working group on stablecoins, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the European Commission are among the international institutions pressing for global stablecoins regulation. The overarching regulatory problems they all identify are:

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An Empire State Glimmer of Hope for Crypto

By: Jeremy McLaughlin and Daniel Cohen

It’s no secret that accessing the New York market is difficult, if not impossible, for some digital asset companies, especially those in their early stages.  New York’s Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) is hoping to change that—at least incrementally—with several initiatives it recently announced.  Our digital asset team will soon provide a detailed analysis of the initiatives, but in the meantime here is a brief summary:

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