Non-Fungible Insights: Blockchain Decrypted

On April 20, 2023, the European Parliament greenlighted the first, harmonized European Union (EU) framework governing crypto-assets, known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), with 517 votes in favor, 38 votes against, and 18 abstentions.

In its Report, the White House recognizes that digital assets require a significant amount of energy resources with potential harmful environmental effects, while at the same time potentially playing an important role in climate-monitoring and mitigating initiatives.

Winston’s Digital Assets & Blockchain Technology Group summarizes the Treasury’s Report on the opportunities and risks associated with crypto-assets and its recommendations to protect U.S. consumers and businesses.

This is the fourth in a series of posts critical of the SEC’s approach to analyzing so-called “utility tokens” under the federal securities laws.

This is the third in a series of posts critical of the SEC’s approach to analyzing so-called “utility tokens” under the federal securities laws.

This is the second in a series of posts critical of the SEC’s approach to analyzing so-called “utility tokens” under the federal securities laws.

This is the first in a series of posts critical of the SEC’s approach to analyzing so-called “utility tokens” under the federal securities laws.

On July 8, 2019, the Division of Trading and Markets of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of General Counsel of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. issued a joint statement on broker-dealer custody of digital asset securities.

The SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHUB) has announced that it will be hosting a forum on May 31, 2019, at the SEC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, to discuss distributed ledger technology and digital assets. The Forum is open to the public on a first come, first served basis.   

On April 3, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, known as FinHUB, published a “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets” (Framework), accompanied by a Statement on the Framework by William Hinman, the Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, and Valerie Szczepanik, the SEC’s Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation.

By now, everyone in the crypto-sphere knows that, on April 3, William Hinman, the Director of Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance, and Valerie Szczepanik, the SEC’s Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation, issued a statement and related “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets.”

In its ongoing effort to combat fraud in the crypto-asset space, one of the sharpest arrows in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement quiver is its ability to issue orders that “temporarily” restrict trading in the securities of companies that the SEC believes may be engaged in fraud or may be the targets of fraudsters.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on March 15, 2019, that the staff of its Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, known as FinHub, will hold a forum focusing on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets.

In February 2018, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Investigations and Examinations (OCIE) listed, for the first time, the examination of broker-dealers and investment advisers engaged in the crypto space as one of its examination priorities.

On March 12, 2019, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management (IM) issued a letter to the Investment Adviser Association in which the Division solicited public comment on a series of questions to “inform our consideration of how characteristics of digital assets impact the application of the Custody Rule.”

In this post, we will discuss how an adviser can comply with the Custody Rule in connection with investing/trading in crypto assets on behalf of clients.

In this post, we will discuss whether crypto assets are subject to Rule 206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisers Act—the so-called Custody Rule.

In our last post, we concluded that if a registered adviser permits its “access persons” to invest/trade in crypto assets, the adviser must determine whether such assets are securities that must be included within the scope of its Code of Ethics for purposes of:

Rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers Act (IAA) requires an investment adviser registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the IAA to establish, maintain, and enforce a written code of ethics that includes, among other things, provisions that require:

Item 8 of Part 2A of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form ADV, entitled “Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss,” requires an SEC-registered investment adviser to...