On April 14, 2020, the Financial Stability Board issued a consultative paper entitled “Addressing the Regulatory, Supervisory and Oversight Challenges Raised by ‘Global Stablecoin’ Arrangements.”
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CFTC Files Complaint for Fraudulent Forex and Digital Asset Scheme
On April 16, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil enforcement action against two Florida-based crypto companies and their founder and sole owner. According to the CFTC, the Defendants raised $1.6 million from hundreds of customers by fraudulently marketing and soliciting a digital asset to be used in connection with the Defendants’ proprietary foreign exchange algorithm called ART.
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SEC Wins Injunction in Telegram ICO Case
On March 24, 2020, federal Judge P. Kevin Castel issued a long-anticipated opinion in the SEC’s ongoing efforts to block Telegram’s $1.7 billion initial coin offering. Judge Castel found that Telegram’s planned distribution of Gram tokens constitutes a securities offering under federal law for which no exemption from registration is available. He therefore granted the SEC a preliminary injunction blocking Telegram from distributing its Gram tokens to investors.
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The Crypto-Currency Act of 2020
On March 9, 2020, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 6154, the Crypto-Currency Act of 2020. The bill is the latest effort to provide federal oversight to the burgeoning market for crypto-assets.
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OCC Announces Crypto Enforcement Action
On February 20, 2020, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced a Bank Secrecy Act enforcement action against a federal savings bank (Bank). This is one of the first, if not the first, public enforcement actions against a bank related to banking cryptocurrency-related operations. Banks that currently provide banking services to cryptocurrency-related companies, or are considering providing banking services to such companies in the future, should carefully review this enforcement action and consider where the quality of the bank’s AML compliance program is commensurate with these high-risk customers.
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Digital Assets Featured in US Treasury 2020 National Strategy
The US Treasury Department recently announced its 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing (the 2020 Strategy). The 2020 Strategy identifies the US government’s top anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism priorities and serves as a roadmap of Treasury’s plan to stay ahead of evolving illicit finance threats. Digital assets feature heavily in the 2020 Strategy.
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G20 Reiterates Support for Virtual Asset “Travel Rule”
At the conclusion of its February meeting in Riyadh, the Group of Twenty (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors issued a communiqué discussing a wide range of topics, including digital assets and stablecoins. The G20 reiterated its view that technological innovations can deliver significant benefits to the financial system and the broader economy.
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European Commission Releases White Paper on Regulation of AI and Communications on Digital and Data Strategies for Europe
As recently reported on the Hunton Privacy & Information Security Law Blog, the European Commission released a suite of documents including its White Paper on Artificial Intelligence and two communications—its European strategy for data and a Digital Strategy document.
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SEC Commissioner Peirce Proposes to Fill the Gap Between Regulation and Decentralization
As has been widely reported, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce (aka “Crypto Mom”) recently delivered a thoughtful speech entitled “Running on Empty: A Proposal to Fill the Gap Between Regulation and Decentralization,” including with it a model rule on digital token sales. The model rule has made waves in the crypto community because it proposes a three-year safe harbor from SEC registration while a development team builds out a functional, decentralized network.
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How Blockchain Can Modernize Real Estate Transactions
Most retailers have yet to fully embrace blockchain technology. Perhaps for good reason. Applying new technology, particularly that aimed at changing legacy systems, comes with certain risks. That being said, cryptocurrencies and blockchain have the potential to transform retail and commercial real estate.
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