“Decentralized” No More — SEC Drops Proposed Blockchain Test?
Another takeaway of mine from the SEC’s April 3rd releases was noting a striking shift in gears from the SEC. Namely, there was a conspicuous lack of emphasis on the “degree of decentralization” of blockchain token-issuers as applied to the security-vs-utility analysis of their tokens (I didn’t mention this in my earlier post, to keep it as short […]
Initial Impressions On The SEC’s Big “Digital Asset Framework” and Token No-Action Letter Releases
Yesterday was a big day in blockchain legal news, as the SEC put out two releases (combined here) that arguably constitute the biggest advances in token-sale securities law policy since the DAO Report in 2017. The two releases were a “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets” by the SEC’s new FinHub (providing a guide for […]
No, Airdrops Weren’t Just “Legalized” in the U.S.
A November 27, 2018 order in the case of ICO-gone-wrong SEC v. BlockVest, LLC (SoCal U.S. District Court), caused quite a buzz, for the ostensible holding that it (tentatively, of course, as this was not a final order) deemed the “airdrop” method of token distribution (i.e., free giveaways) permissible in the U.S. The order denied an asset freeze that […]
House Financial Services – Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee Hearing (7/18/18): “The Future of Money: Digital Currency”
Below is a rough auto-transcript of a hearing held last week entitled “The Future of Money: Digital Currency” (video available at previous link). The witnesses were: We have not yet gone through the hearing record exhaustively and produced a selection of “pull quotes” of interest. However, the transcript with links to the hearing video is reproduced here […]
House Agricultural Committee Hearing (7/18/18): “Cryptocurrencies: Oversight of New Assets in the Digital Age”
Below is a rough auto-transcript of a hearing held last week entitled “Cryptocurrencies: Oversight of New Assets in the Digital Age” (video available at link). The witnesses were: Here are a few “pull quotes” and exchanges of interest (this is by no means exhaustive): Again, we have not yet gone through the hearing record exhaustively. However, the […]
Doubts Emerge Regarding SEC Director Hinman’s “Decentralization” Token Security-Criteria
On June 14th, 2018, at the Yahoo! Finance All Markets Summit, the SEC’s Director of the Corporate Finance Division, William Hinman, made a “speech heard ’round the world” — best known for its bombshell conclusion that Ether coin (or “ETH”, of the Ethereum blockchain network) should not be considered a security [1]. While this sort of […]
House Financial Services Subcommittee Hearing: Cryptocurrencies and Illicit Financing (6/20/18)
Below is a rough auto-transcript of a hearing held yesterday entitled “Illicit Use of Virtual Currency and the Law Enforcement Response”. The House Financial Services Subcommittee had officials from USCIS (ICE), FinCEN (Treasury) and the Secret Service on the stand, ostensibly to testify on the above-titled topic. However, due to the contemporaneous border family separation debacle, a […]
Congress Members Push Back Against SEC; Promise To Introduce Utility Token/SAFT-friendly U.S. Legislation
A routine House Financial Services Committee hearing held on May 16th, 2018, turned eventful when a number of U.S. Congressional representatives sprung “initial coin offering” (ICO-related) questions on SEC officials — most of them from a more positive and supportive perspective than the SEC’s Chairman Jay Clayton has evinced in his comments directed at the […]
