This is Part 1 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies.
DLT vs Territorial Law.
Fiat currencies have declared value stemming from governmental regulation. And "governments" typically are territorial jurisdictions, exercising the fundamentally territorial concepts of law and regulation.
Cyber-currencies function on the blockchain, a distributed ledger technology ("DLT"). Because DLT is - and fundamentally must be - decentralized and distributed, it defies conventional notions of, and structures for, the ...
Last month, the Treasury Department issued a 222-page report to President Trump on Nonbank Financials, Fintech, and Innovation in which it recommends large-scale regulatory changes to promote innovation in the realm of fintech. The report makes clear the view of the Treasury Department that "innovation is critical to the success of the U.S. economy, particularly in the financial sector." To that end, the Treasury Department's report seeks to identify opportunities to "modernize regulation to embrace the use of data, encourage the adoption of advanced data processing and other ...
Earlier this month the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued its opinion denying several motions to dismiss, including one filed by the Tezos Foundation, regarding class allegations stemming from Tezos' July 2017 initial coin offering ("ICO"). This lawsuit, In Re Tezos Securities Litigation (3:17-cv-06850), is a consolidated class action resulting from an ICO conducted by Tezos in July of 2017 in which the plaintiffs, investors in the ICO headed by lead plaintiff Arman Anvari, seek rescission of their contributions to the ICO as well as ...
On July 26, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a 92-page release disapproving of Bats BZX Exchange, Inc.'s ("BZX") proposed rule change which sought to list and trade shares of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust.[1] See generally Bats BZX Exch., Inc. Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust Order, Exchange Act Release No. 34-83723, 2018 WL 3596769 (July 26, 2018) [hereinafter SEC Release].[2] The Release explains that the Commission disapproved of the proposal because BZX failed to meet its obligations under Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5).
Section 6(b) of the Exchange Act sets forth ...
Mick Mulvaney's tenure as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB" or "the Bureau"), a position he has held since November of 2017, is coming to an end. It is anticipated that President Trump's nominee, Kathleen Kraninger, will take over as the Bureau's director once confirmed by the Senate. In a speech to the Women in Housing and Finance group on May 29, 2018, Mulvaney announced that the Bureau is working closely with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to implement a "regulatory sandbox" that will enable financial technology ("FinTech") firms to ...
A distributed ledger often referred to as blockchain or distributed ledger technology ("DLT"), has a wide variety of potential uses and is currently being touted as a helpful tool for tracking financial transactions such as issuing and trading stock. Nonetheless, the nature of DLT raises some interesting jurisdictional questions and concerns.
At its core, a distributed ledger is a digital transaction record that is shared with multiple computers (also known as nodes) on a decentralized network. Distributed ledgers are often promoted as being almost immutable because the ...
I. Introduction
Although the virtual-currency business industry is still in its infancy, the Uniform Law Commission ("ULC") sought to create a statutory structure for regulating virtual-currency business activity in an effort to provide innovators and customers certain assurances with respect to the regulatory landscape. The ULC released its final version of the Uniform Regulation of Virtual-Currency Businesses Act ("VCBA") on October 9, 2017, which sets forth extensive requirements that must be met before a person or entity can engage in virtual-currency business ...
In a press release in October of 2017, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) announced the launch of IBM Blockchain, a blockchain banking solution to help financial institutions "address the processes of universal cross-border payments, designed to reduce the settlement time and lower the cost of completing global payments for businesses and consumers." IBM partnered up with a non-profit blockchain organization and currency exchange company to develop the new blockchain that purports to allow banks to rapidly "both clear and settle payment transactions around the ...
UBS is leading a team of banks developing a blockchain-based system to enable financial markets to rapidly settle transactions and make payments. On August 31, 2017, UBS announced that six additional banks have joined the group developing the system, which is set to launch in late 2018. The banks are collaborating to use blockchain technology to increase speed and efficiency in business transactions. To do so, UBS has developed a "Utility Settlement Coin" ("USC"), a digital cash equivalent of each of the major currencies backed by central banks, rather than a decentralized new ...
Back in August 2014, the CFPB published a Consumer Advisory entitled, "Risks to consumers posed by virtual currencies." In the Advisory, the CFPB informs consumers of the risks associated with blockchain currency, including scams, cost as compared with credit cards, fewer protections when something goes awry, and the potential for hackers.
In the Advisory, the CFPB warns consumers about bitcoin and other blockchain currency. Risks include the threat of hackers and scammers that pose serious security threats. Because bitcoin and other blockchain currencies are virtual, fraud ...