Can the Uniform Commercial Code Help Save Bitcoin from Speculators?

By Mark Edwin Burge October 23, 2023 by renholding

As the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has received more than its share of exposure, including as a harbinger of the possibilities of blockchain. Since the 2008 brainchild of Satoshi Nakamoto hit the internet, supporters of the original cryptocurrency have lauded it …

Let’s Stop Treating Crypto Trading as If It Were Finance

By Todd H. Baker November 29, 2022 by renholding

Members of Congress and financial regulators from the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, SEC, CFTC, and CFPB appear set on regulating the crypto trading system (traded coins and associated marketplaces, exchanges, brokerages, lending, staking, derivatives, intermediaries, and enablers) as part of …

Congress Should Grant the SEC Oversight of Digital Asset Spot Markets

By Lee Reiners April 21, 2022 by renholding

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has classified Bitcoin and Ether – and by extension other cryptocurrencies that are similarly structured – as commodities (courts have also upheld this classification). While the CFTC regulates commodity derivatives, they do not regulate …

A Tokenized Future: Regulatory Lessons from Crowdfunding and Standard Form Contracts

By Darian Ibrahim April 13, 2022 by renholding

Cryptocurrencies and other digital assets (“crypto”) are surging in popularity. If cryptos are securities (“investment contracts” under the Howey test), they must be sold in accordance with the federal securities laws. This likely requires registration with the Securities and Exchange …

Stablecoins, National Currencies, CBDCs, and Banks

By Kimberly A. Houser and Colleen Baker October 18, 2021 by renholding

The Federal Reserve is set to release a much anticipated discussion paper on the prospect of a digital U.S. dollar. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), over 86 percent of central banks are investigating the possibility of a …

Extraterritorial Reach of U.S. Crypto Regulation by the SEC

By Carol Goforth April 27, 2021 by renholding

In 2008, the world ushered in the blockchain era[1] with a whitepaper posted pseudonymously in an online discussion of cryptography under the name “Satoshi Nakamoto.”[2] That paper formed the foundation for Bitcoin, the first blockchain-hosted cryptoasset,[3] a …

Latham & Watkins Discusses ESG Considerations for Cryptocurrency

By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink and Stuart Davis April 21, 2021 by Nisha Chandra

The huge rise in popularity of Bitcoin — and the growing interest by mainstream financial institutions in virtual assets as an investable and tradable asset class — has shone a light on the cryptocurrency industry’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) …

Regulating Digital Currencies: Towards an Analytical Framework

By Steven L. Schwarcz March 23, 2021 by renholding

In a new article, I examine the development and regulation of digital currencies, which are monetary currencies that are evidenced electronically. Large “wholesale” payments among businesses and financial institutions already occur electronically, and bitcoin has been with us for …

Toward a Better Coordinated Regulatory Response to Cryptoassets

By Carol Goforth March 10, 2021 by renholding

On Monday, January 8, 2021, Tesla announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.[1] This purchase coincided with a dramatic increase in the price of the cryptoasset, which …

Debunking Fintech Inside and Outside the Blockchain

By Fatjon Kaja, Edoardo Martino and Alessio M. Pacces November 27, 2020 by renholding

The hype over technology-enabled disintermediation of financial services, commonly known as fintech, seems at a peak. Though fintech firms promise to increase competition in the financial industry, it is unclear how much the various forms of fintech, including those working …

The Dog that Didn’t Bark: Effects of Regulation on Cryptocurrency Trading

By Brian D. Feinstein and Kevin Werbach September 28, 2020 by renholding

Cryptocurrencies have the potential to operate as a new financial asset class; as a novel fund-raising tool for ventures; as a more efficient payment mechanism, especially across borders; and as the foundation for an innovative, new economy of distributed applications. …

Will FinTech Disruption in the ‘20s Be Roaring?

By Troy A. Paredes and Lee A. Schneider April 3, 2020 by renholding

In recent podcasts, we addressed three themes, among other topics: how artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) can change how decisions get made; how blockchain can transform how we transact and how we record and communicate things; and how technology …

What Law and Economics Has to Say About Property Rights in Cryptocurrencies

By Roee Sarel April 2, 2020 by renholding

Technological advancements of recent years have given birth to a strange and interesting creature: cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, and Facebook’s upcoming Libra. Many of the advantages offered by these tokens stem from their underlying technology – a decentralized ledger, which …

SEC Commissioner Dissents from Order Blocking Proposed Bitcoin-Related Rule

By Hester M. Peirce February 27, 2020 by renholding

Today the Commission once again disapproved a proposed rule change that would give American investors access to bitcoin through a product listed and traded on a national securities exchange subject to the Commission’s regulatory framework.[1] This order is the

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Stablecoins in Cryptoeconomics: From Initial Coin Offerings to Central Bank Digital Currencies

By Marco Dell’Erba November 15, 2019 by renholding

In a recent article, I highlight the links among initial coin offerings (ICOs), cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Although these entities exist in different contexts (securities law and capital formation, payment systems, monetary policy), they are intertwined …

Facebook’s Libra Heightens Debate Over the Regulation of Cryptocurrencies

By Hadar Y. Jabotinsky August 16, 2019 by renholding

Cryptocurrencies like Ether, DAO, Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra are electronically generated and stored currencies by which users can trade real or virtual objects with one another, bypassing traditional central clearinghouses. Given that these cryptocurrencies are starting to replace some national …

Riding the Mania of Blockchain: Public Firms’ Speculative 8-K Disclosures

By Stephanie F. Cheng, Gus De Franco, Haibo Jiang and Pengkai Lin August 7, 2019 by renholding

The price of Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology, increased dramatically from less than a penny when it was launched in 2009 to $900 in January 2017 and peaked at over $19,500 in December 2017. This rise coincided with …

SEC Commissioner Discusses Cross-Border Cooperation in Digital-Asset Regulation

By Hester M. Peirce August 6, 2019 by renholding

Thank you, Robby [Greene], for that kind intro. I am delighted to see that Robby, once my research assistant, has clearly gone on to bigger and better things. I also am delighted to be here in Singapore, by some accounts

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Libra: The Regulatory Challenges Facebook Ignored

By Georges Ugeux July 11, 2019 by renholding

The announcement on June 18 by Facebook of what it calls “a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people” was sure to receive immediate attention. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now on a global …

Blockchain Developers and Fiduciary Duty: An Ill-Fitting Framework

By Raina S. Haque, Rodrigo Seira Silva-Herzog, Brent A. Plummer and Nelson M. Rosario June 21, 2019 by renholding

By enabling new modes of human interaction, technological advancements catalyze the evolution of regulatory frameworks, tools, and approaches. The rate at which computer technology evolves outpaces that of legislation and rule-making. Our economy is increasingly structured not only by traditional …

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