For the last three and a half years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has been considering whether to approve placement of the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF (“COIN”) on the Bats exchange. However, the SEC’s inaction will end by March 11th, which is the SEC’s deadline to either reject COIN, or have it be automatically approved due to the…
Grant Fondo, Co-Chair of Goodwin’s Digital Currency + Blockchain Technology practice, recently spoke with The Recorder on the changing roles of lawyers in the blockchain space. The article addresses the challenges blockchain lawyers face due to the highly specialized, technical and constantly changing nature of the industry. As the industry evolves, blockchain lawyers not…
Last month, Senegal announced its intention to introduce a national digital currency based on block chain technology, and become only the second country in the world following Tunisia to do so. Senegal’s new digital currency – called “eCFA” – will co-exist as legal tender alongside Senegal’s fiat currency, the…
Daiwa Securities Group, a Tokyo-based securities brokerage, will be working with Myanmar’s Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) to establish a Blockchain-based stock exchange by integrating Daiwa’s equity trading into the Yangon exchange platform. Daiwa and YSX are currently testing the Blockchain platform and are in discussions with government officials to fully…
A Philippines bitcoin startup, Coins, recently announced a $5 million investment from global investors, to help it expand its reach to underbanked communities in Southeast Asia. The Series A round is a big shot in the arm to the fledgling company as it seeks to expand its reach throughout Southeast…
On Tuesday, October 4th, Goodwin will host noted author and Fintech thought-leader, Chris Skinner for a breakfast presentation in our New York office. Mr. Skinner is the author of the recently released book, Value Web: How Fintech Firms are using Mobile and Blockchain Technologies to Create the Internet of Value….
In our August 9 blog post, we discussed the Bitfinex hack that rattled the bitcoin markets and raised serious questions about the security of bitcoin wallets and allocating risk in this new age of cyber theft. Through a simple phishing email that contained a virus, hackers were able to gain access to…
California first proposed a licensing framework for digital currency companies in February 2015, though the bill was inactive by September 2015. Just last week, California legislators introduced a bill that was amended from the original bill in February 2015. Known as AB 1326, the amended bill proposed the enactment of…
On August 2, 2016, Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange Bitfinex was the latest target of hackers who stole 119,756 bitcoins, for a total loss of approximately $72 million at that time. Some are estimating it to be as high as $80,000,000. The Bitfinex hack was notable both because Bitfinex is one of the…
The European Commission recently published a proposal to amend the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the legislation that specifies the anti-money laundering, or AML, and counter terrorist financing rules for EU Member States. The proposal seeks to introduce stricter rules on the reporting and identification around the users of virtual currencies,…