On January 10, 2022, tZERO’s ATS settled a matter with the SEC in which it agreed to an $800,000 fine. Given the size of the penalty and substantial attention on the SEC’s approach to regulating digital asset securities, readers may have thought that this would present a blockbuster set of…
Please note, this is a summary to the article originally published in Fintech Futures. PayPal, which has 346 million customers and accounts for nearly 14% of online payments nationally, has announced that its U.S. customers will be able to buy, sell and hold a selection of cryptocurrencies via its digital…
On June 24, 2020, New York’s Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) announced a series of steps it is taking to promote development and opportunities in the virtual currency space. These actions would build upon New York’s “BitLicense,” a virtual currency licensing regime implemented in 2015 that establishes minimum standards for…
On July 22, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an interpretive letter confirming that national banks and federal savings associations (banks) may provide cryptocurrency custody services to customers. The conclusion that banks may provide such services is not surprising, because banks have long provided safekeeping…
On December 18, 2019, the SEC issued an order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933, making findings, and imposing penalties and a cease-and-desist order with respect to Blockchain of Things Inc. (BCOT) in connection with an ICO allegedly conducted in violation of Sections…
On October 11, 2019, the SEC filed an emergency action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Telegram Group Inc. and a wholly-owned subsidiary for violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act for the sale of unregistered securities. The SEC sought…
On September 18, 2019, the SEC filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against ICOBox and its co-founder and CEO (Nikolay Evdokimov) for violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act for the sale of unregistered securities and for violation…
On August 29, 2019, the SEC issued a final judgment as to Bitqyck Inc. (“Bitqyck”) and its founders (Bruce Bise and Sam Mendez) concerning the defendants’ conduct with respect to the sale of digital tokens and the failure to register as a national securities exchange. The order was part of…
On July 25, 2019, the SEC issued its second no-action letter in connection with a token sale to Pocketful of Quarters. Pocketful of Quarters is a company founded to address “fragmentation” of in-game credits and currencies in the video game industry through a centralized platform built with blockchain technology. That…
On July 10, 2019, the SEC qualified the first-ever offering of digital tokens under Regulation A+. Blockstack PBC sought to offer up to 180,333,333 “Stacks Tokens” in the following ways: (1) 78,333,333 Stacks Tokens at a discounted price of US $0.12 per token (up to a maximum of US $3,000 per holder)…