On August 23, 2021, CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump released a helpful primer on the CFTC’s regulatory authority over digital assets.
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CFTC
Regulators Continue Crackdown on Crypto Exchanges
By Scott H. Kimpel on
Posted in Regulatory
In a settled enforcement case announced August 9, 2021, the SEC fined Poloniex, LLC, a crypto trading platform, for operating an unregistered securities exchange. Then, on August 10, 2021, the CFTC and FinCEN announced a settled enforcement case against crypto exchange BitMEX for anti-money laundering violations and failure to register with the CFTC as a trading platform. The cases highlight US regulators’ increased focus on cryptocurrency exchanges.…
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The Nonfungible Token
By Scott H. Kimpel on
Posted in Regulatory
A recent Bloomberg article reported that average prices for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, are down approximately 70 percent from recent highs. A wide range of NFTs have begun to enter the marketplace over the past several months. A digital work of art represented by an NFT recently sold at auction for over $69 million, and even a professional sports league has begun to issue NFTs. A fascinating debate about the social and economic utility of NFTs has emerged, but what are some of the legal issues associated with this new digital asset class?…
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DOJ Releases Cryptocurrency Enforcement Report
By Scott H. Kimpel on
Posted in Cryptocurrencies, Regulatory
On October 8, 2020, the Department of Justice’s Cyber-Digital Task Force released an 83-page report entitled “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework.” The DOJ report highlights many of the legal and enforcement risks posed in the burgeoning crypto marketplace, and includes various enforcement case studies as well as informative graphics.…
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CFTC Announces Final Guidance on “Actual Delivery” for Digital Assets
By Chelsea Lomprey on
On March 28, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued final interpretive guidance clarifying its position with respect to retail commodity transactions and the “actual delivery” exception in the context of digital assets.…
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The Crypto-Currency Act of 2020
By Scott H. Kimpel on
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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CFTC Chairman Discusses Digital Assets
By Scott H. Kimpel on
Posted in Cryptocurrencies, General
In a television interview on November 19, 2019, CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert discussed digital assets and the importance of U.S. leadership in this space. Notably, he stated:
“I want the United States to lead, particularly in the blockchain technology that underlies digital assets… [U]ltimately I could see it overtaking the internet or being effectively parallel to the internet in using a variety of different kinds of transactions, not just the financial system, but in other types of transactions as well… I think whoever ends up leading in this technology will end up writing the rules of the road for the rest of the world. My emphasis is on making sure that the United States is a leader.”…
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