O’Melveny & Myers Discusses the Legal Challenges of NFTs

By Heather J. Meeker, Laurel Loomis Rimon, Eric Sibbitt and Braddock Stevenson April 14, 2021 by Nisha Chandra

Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are big news these days. After an NFT for a piece of digital art by the artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) sold for $69 million in March 2021―making it the third-most expensive artwork by a living …

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 …

Latham & Watkins Looks Back at Digital Asset Regulation in 2020

By Stephen P. Wink, Todd Beauchamp, Yvette D. Valdez, Eric S. Volkman, Adam Bruce Fovent and Deric Behar February 5, 2021 by renholding

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 …

Latham & Watkins Discusses Digital Asset Regulations of 2020

By Stephen P. Wink, Todd Beauchamp, Yvette D. Valdez, Eric Volkman, Adam Bruce Fovent and Deric Behar January 29, 2021 by Nisha Chandra

The Cost of Doing Business: Corporate Crime and Punishment Post-Crisis

By Dorothy S. Lund and Natasha Sarin March 18, 2020 by renholding

For many years, law and economics scholars, as well as politicians and regulators, have debated whether corporate criminal enforcement deters too much beneficial corporate activity or lets corporate criminals off too easily. This debate has recently grown more polarized: On …

SEC, CFTC, and FinCEN Leaders Issue Statement on Digital Asset Activities

By Heath Tarbert, Kenneth A. Blanco and Jay Clayton October 14, 2019 by renholding

The leaders of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Agencies”) today issued the following joint statement to remind persons engaged in activities involving digital assets of their

…

Debevoise Discusses Guidance on Applying Bank Secrecy Act Framework to Convertible Virtual Currency

By Satish M. Kini and Byungkwon Lim June 5, 2019 by renholding

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued interpretive guidance on May 9, 2019 explaining how the agency intends to apply its existing regulatory framework to companies offering common types of convertible virtual currency (“CVC”) products and services (the “CVC Guidance”).…

Ballard Spahr Discusses SEC Case Against Clearing Broker Under Bank Secrecy Act

By Brad Gershel January 7, 2019 by renholding

On December 11, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York granted, in part, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) motion for summary judgement in its action against Alpine Securities, Inc. (“Alpine”), finding that the clearing broker …

Arnold & Porter Discusses Easing of FinCEN Rules on Identifying Beneficial Owners of Accounts

By Richard M. Alexander, David F. Freeman, Jr., Michael A. Mancusi, Brian C. McCormally and Kevin M. Toomey September 12, 2018 by renholding

On September 7, 2018, after considerable industry feedback and two issuances of temporary relief, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued permanent relief to the banking industry from the requirement to collect beneficial ownership information on certain accounts that automatically …

Arnold & Porter Discusses Regulators’ Clamp-Down on ICOs, Virtual Currencies, and Blockchain Firms

By Andrew Joseph Shipe, Lawton M. Camp, Michael D. Trager, Christopher L. Allen and Anthony Raglani April 30, 2018 by renholding

If there was ever a regulatory grace period for virtual currencies and blockchain technology, it is officially over. Five federal regulators—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the US Treasury Department (FinCEN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures …

Debevoise Discusses FinCEN’s Guidance on the Customer Due Diligence Rule

By Satish M. Kini, Zila Reyes Acosta-Grimes and Robert T. Dura April 17, 2018 by renholding

On April 3, 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued long-awaited frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) regarding its new customer due diligence requirements (“CDD Rule”) that become effective on May 11, 2018.1 As a reminder, on May …

Paul Weiss Reviews Economic Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Developments for 2017

By Brad S. Karp, Roberto J. Gonzalez, Michael E. Gertzman, H. Christopher Boehning and Jessica S. Carey February 12, 2018 by renholding

Economic sanctions and anti-money laundering (“AML”) remain at the forefront of U.S. regulatory priorities. Indeed, in 2017, federal and state agencies imposed over $2.5 billion in penalties for sanctions/AML violations. And, despite its generally deregulatory agenda, the Trump administration has …

K&L Gates Discusses the Virtual-Currency Businesses Act and Coming Cryptocurrency Regulation

By Jeremy M. McLaughlin and Eric A. Love November 17, 2017 by charlesbluesky

The Uniform Law Commission (“ULC”) is an organization focused on developing and preparing “non-partisan, well-conceived, and well-drafted” state legislation in areas of state law where there is a perceived need for uniformity. In practice, once the ULC releases proposed state …

K&L Gates Discusses Trump’s Plan to Make Mexico Pay for the Wall

By Joseph A. Valenti, Daniel F. C. Crowley and Michael R. Komo January 25, 2017 by Jeff Himelson

One of the most significant post-election questions for the financial-services industry—particularly global financial institutions that move money across borders—is, what is the status of President Trump’s proposal to tax electronic remittances to Mexico to pay for the wall between Mexico …

Latham & Watkins analyzes Court Ruling on Bitcoin Sales and Crime

By Serrin A. Turner, Benjamin A. Naftalis and Pia Naib September 7, 2016 by renholding

In State of Florida v. Espinoza, a trial court in Miami recently dismissed all charges against an individual Bitcoin exchanger, who was arrested in a sting operation after agreeing to sell bitcoins to an undercover detective who purported to …

Akin Gump discusses Tackling a Panamanian Money Laundering Organization

By Jonathan C. Poling and Anne E. Borkovic May 27, 2016 by AJ

On May 5, 2016, the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against 77 entities and individuals associated with the Waked Money Laundering Organization (“Waked MLO,” collectively, the “Waked Sanctions”). OFAC stated that the designation …

Fried Frank explains FinCEN’s Proposed Rule Subjecting Investment Advisers to AML Compliance Requirements

By Michael Gershberg and Elyse Feuer September 28, 2015 by AJ

On August 25, 2015, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed a rule that would subject investment advisers that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to certain formal anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program and …

PwC discusses AML Global Alignment: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

By Jeff Lavine and Dan Tannebaum July 24, 2015 by ilyabeylin

The fourth and latest iteration of the EU’s anti-money laundering directive (AMLD IV) was published on June 5^th, after clearing its last legislative stop at the European Parliament. The new directive brings the EU’s anti-money laundering laws more …

WilmerHale discusses FinCEN’s First Enforcement Action for Virtual Currency Activity

By Franca Harris Gutierrez, Michael E. Gordon, Katrina Carroll, Elijah M. Alper and Jennifer R. Jacoby June 8, 2015 by ilyabeylin

The US government took its strongest step yet in its oversight of other virtual currency [on May 5, 2015], fining prominent “Bitcoin alternative” company Ripple Labs Inc. $700,000 for what the government called a willful violation of the anti-money laundering …

Gibson Dunn discusses Developments in Virtual Currency

By Judith Alison Lee, Arthur S. Long, Jeffrey L. Steiner and Zhou Zhou February 5, 2015 by miaotingwu

The pace of regulation and enforcement actions relating to virtual currencies has continued to pick up during the fall of 2014. We discuss below the following recent developments: (1) updated guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on the applicability …

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