Counsel Spotlight with LC (Laura) Cole, Esq.
The following is an interview between our Business Development Manager, Allys Benitez (AB), and Laura Cole (LC), Counsel & Director of Business Development at IBL, a distinguished legal expert specializing in blockchain and Web3 technologies. Her dedication to both her professional and local communities is evident through her positions on the City of West Palm […]
Uniswap’s Response to SEC Wells Notice: An Overview
Written by Aaron Krowne Uniswap, a prominent decentralized exchange (DEX) in the cryptocurrency space, recently responded to a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accused the DEX of operating an unregistered securities exchange and claimed that its interface and wallet were functioning as unregistered securities brokers. This notice is a […]
A Tale of Two Token Offerings: Lessons from Blockstack (Reg A+) And Telegram (Reg D)
(*) Some of the biggest news of the past half-year on the US crypto regulatory front has been (1) Blockstack’s successful (qualified) “Reg A+” filing with the SEC and associated offering, and (2) the SEC’s lawsuit and injunction against Telegram, blocking distribution of their “Grams” tokens, sold pursuant to earlier “SAFTs” (Simple Agreements for Future […]
“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 […]
