Gibson Dunn Offers 2019 Mid-Year Securities Enforcement Update

By Mark K. Schonfeld and Amy Mayer July 24, 2019 by renholding

The first half of 2019 has seen a continuation of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s emphasis on protecting the interests of Main Street investors. Chairman Clayton reiterated these themes in his testimony in May before the Financial Services and General …

SEC Commissioner Peirce Talks Digital Assets: How We “Howey”

By Hester M. Peirce May 17, 2019 by renholding

One year ago, I gave a speech—appropriately in Southern California—called “Beaches and Bitcoin.”[1] At that time—not so long ago in analog time but eons ago in digital time—the burning question was how to decide when issuing tokens constituted an

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Davis Polk Discusses France’s New Legal Framework for Digital Assets

By Christophe Perchet, Juliette Loget, Jean-Christophe Devouge, Stéphane Daniel and Daniel Arroche April 25, 2019 by renholding

After becoming one of the first countries to authorize the registration and transfer of unlisted securities using blockchain technology, France has adopted an innovative legal framework governing initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) and digital assets services providers (“DASPs”) with the aim …

SEC Offers Framework for “Investment Contract” Analysis of Digital Assets

By Securities and Exchange Commission April 8, 2019 by renholding

If you are considering[1] an Initial Coin Offering, sometimes referred to as an “ICO,” or otherwise engaging in the offer, sale, or distribution of a digital asset,[2] you need to consider whether the U.S. federal securities laws apply.

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Bitcoin Futures: From Self-Certification to Systemic Risk

By Lee Reiners December 18, 2018 by renholding

December 2017 marked a milestone in the short history of virtual currency. On Friday, December 1, 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) self-certified new contracts for cash-settled bitcoin futures products. The self-certification process …

SEC Divisions Set Forth Views on Issuing and Trading Digital Asset Securities

By Securities and Exchange Commission November 21, 2018 by renholding

In recent years, we have seen significant advances in technologies – including blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies – that impact our securities markets. This statement[1] highlights several recent Commission enforcement actions involving the intersection of long-standing applications of …

SEC’s Co-Director of Enforcement Talks About Her Division’s Impact

By Stephanie Avakian September 21, 2018 by renholding

My speech today [1] happens to fall a little less than two weeks before the close of Steve Peikin’s and my first full fiscal year as Co-Directors of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. In many respects, a year is an

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The Problematic Role of Computer Code in Initial Coin Offerings

By Shaanan Cohney, David A. Hoffman, Jeremy Sklaroff and David A. Wishnick August 16, 2018 by renholding

The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is one of the stranger financial innovations in recent memory. Imagine if Coca-Cola had funded its initial deployment of vending machines through the sale of tokens its machines might one day require. Now replace soda …

Latham & Watkins Discusses SEC Official’s Analysis of Digital Assets as Securities

By Stephen P. Wink, David L. Concannon, Miles P. Jennings, Cameron R. Kates and Thomas H. Gabay July 2, 2018 by renholding

William Hinman, Director of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance, provided substantial color on the SEC’s evolving view of digital asset classification recently when he shared his thoughts on how to characterize purchases and sales …

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses SEC’s Latest Take on Digital Assets as Securities

By Michael H. Krimminger, Pamela L. Marcogliese, Matthew C. Solomon and Zachary L. Baum June 21, 2018 by renholding

On Thursday, June 14, the SEC Director of Corporation Finance, William Hinman, stated his view that current secondary market trades of Ether are not now securities transactions as part of a speech on the treatment of digital assets under the …

SEC Discusses Online Trading Platforms — With a Word of Caution

By Stephen J. Crimmins March 29, 2018 by renholding

On March 7, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division and its Trading & Markets Division issued a joint “Statement on Potentially Unlawful Online Platforms for Trading Digital Assets.”[1] The release appeared to be the strongest signal yet …

SEC Warns About Online Platforms for Trading Digital Assets

By Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets March 8, 2018 by renholding

Online trading platforms have become a popular way investors can buy and sell digital assets, including coins and tokens offered and sold in so-called Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”). The platforms often claim to give investors the ability to quickly buy

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The CLS Blue Sky Blog

Columbia Law School's Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets

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