In the last few weeks, two bills with the potential to bring needed regulatory certainty to the U.S. digital asset industry were introduced in the Senate with solid bipartisan backing.

In June, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) …

On July 21, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each brought insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, his brother and a close friend for using material non-public information (MNPI) to …

Nonfungible token (NFT or Token) was the word of the year in 2021, as NFT sales exceeded $4 billion in monthly trading volume in January 2022 after generating more than $23 billion in sales in 2021.   Celebrities including musicians  Eminem…

In recent years, innovation in the blockchain or “Web3” space has been impacted by uncertainty on the regulatory front. Undoubtedly, the greatest area of uncertainty has involved the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and its application of the so-called Howey test …

Underscoring that misconduct surrounding cryptoassets has become a top U.S. enforcement priority, the Department of Justice announced on February 17 the appointment of Eun Young Choi as head of a dedicated National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.  The NCET’s mandate is to …

The Biden administration has just completed its first full year in office, and the talk has been tough.  New leadership at DOJ, the SEC, the FTC, the CFTC, and other regulatory and law enforcement agencies have issued statements and policy …

As artificial intelligence and other data tools have proliferated, regulators and prosecutors expect companies to utilize sophisticated data analytics as part of their compliance programs. They also expect directors to take an active role, understanding and overseeing these data-driven compliance …

The CFTC and FinCEN recently announced a settlement with BitMEX for $100 million to resolve an enforcement action related to the exchange’s failure to register as a futures commission merchant and failure to establish a BSA/AML compliance program.

The Order

On March 17, 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the establishment of an interdivisional Climate Risk Unit (CRU) to assess the risks to US financial stability posed by climate change. The CRU aims to be a catalyst for …

The trend of escalating penalties for derivatives and commodities market abuse violations continued in 2020. Civil monetary penalties exceeding $100 million have become commonplace for serious corporate violations. Moreover, the DOJ routinely conducts criminal investigations in parallel with the CFTC, …

In the second half of 2020, demand for ESG-focused investments continued to accelerate, and data showing the outperformance of those investments during the COVID-19 pandemic has set the stage for robust demand to continue in 2021. In his recent letter …