cryptoassets
How Investors React to SEC and CFTC Enforcement in Digital Asset Markets
Digital assets and blockchains can lead to financial innovations with a range of applications across countries, markets, and industries. Yet they also require comprehensive regulation, which is especially difficult within the fragmented financial-regulation framework of the United States. In a …
For Regulators, It’s All About Timing
Regulators have a hard job. Novel financial products are developed and launched all the time. At first, regulators have very little information about these products; it makes sense to let the market develop a bit before taking action. But waiting …
Wachtell Lipton Discusses Cryptoassets and the SEC’s Mandate
In recent months, the SEC has been the subject of intensifying criticism regarding its role in cryptoasset regulation. While some critiques properly raise questions and engage in constructive debate, others have resorted to shrill attacks that betray a reflexively adversarial …
Wachtell Lipton Discusses Regulating Cryptoassets With Existing Tools
For all the press lamenting the “crypto winter” and urging long-term legislative overhaul, there has not been sufficient attention to how existing regulatory tools can be employed to address some of the key risks and vulnerabilities in the current crypto …
The Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act
On June 10, 2022, U.S. senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced S. 4356, their Responsible Financial Innovation Act, to transfer most regulation of cryptoproducts to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC}, essentially ousting the SEC, presumably perceived …
Wachtell Lipton Discusses Emerging Issues in Decentralized Governance and the Lessons of Corporate Governance
While recent gyrations in cryptoasset markets have focused attention on the future contours of stablecoins, market-making, and impending regulation, another feature of the blockchain landscape is also confronting noteworthy challenges. Specifically, a new breed of business organization has emerged …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Stablecoins Report of President’s Working Group on Financial Markets
The SEC, Digital Assets, and Game Theory
Digital assets, cryptoassets, cryptocurrencies, and security-tokens have become ubiquitous. Yet approaches to regulating them differ around the globe. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) has become a uniquely active crypto-regulator. In my recent article, …
Extraterritorial Reach of U.S. Crypto Regulation by the SEC
Latham & Watkins Discusses ESG Considerations for Cryptocurrency
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) …
Latham & Watkins Discusses Whether NFTs Are Securities
As the current crypto boom has progressed, it seemed Decentralized Finance (DeFi) had cemented its position as the dominant new narrative of this cycle. This view is supported by the tens of billions of dollars that have flowed into DeFi …
Toward a Better Coordinated Regulatory Response to Cryptoassets
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 …
Latham & Watkins Discusses Digital Asset Regulations of 2020
Last year, Latham & Watkins sounded a hopeful note that 2020 would provide a clearer vision than 2019 for the regulation of digital assets in the US. In the wake of the emergence of COVID-19, priorities changed, along with forecasts …
Securities Regulation in Cryptoasset Markets: A Cost-Benefit Analysis
Rapid technological innovation over the past five years has created unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs – often outside the world of traditional finance and capital markets. Cryptoassets, for example, may prove to be socially beneficial tools for enabling entrepreneurs to more …
Crypto-Enforcement Around the World
The market for cryptoassets is burgeoning, as distributed ledger technology transforms capital and financial markets. With the extraordinary growth in the crypto-markets comes the need for regulation to promote efficiency, capital formation, and innovation while protecting investors. With the need …
Blockchain Developers and Fiduciary Duty: An Ill-Fitting Framework
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 …
Regulatory Arbitrage, Unclear Terminologies: A Challenge to Global Cryptoasset Regulations
Few innovations in finance have emerged in recent years that are as controversial or present as many challenges to regulators and policymakers as cryptoassets. A key question for regulators and market participants is the extent to which the difference between …