As noted in my December 2017 and January 2018 posts, the SEC’s Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets have pointed out in a public statement issued today that online trading platforms for cryptocurrencies that operate as “exchanges” (as that term is defined in the securities laws) and where the traded cryptocurrencies meet the SEC’s …
Last month, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton issued a Statement on Cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and although Chairman Clayton noted that the positions expressed there were his own, rather than those of the Commission, the Statement contained several important points that asset managers, sponsors of cryptocurrency funds and those selling such funds …
The SEC’s Division of Investment Management Staff has released a Staff Letter dated January 18, 2018 to the Investment Company Institute and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in which the Staff identified a number of questions about how registered open-ended funds (mutual funds) and ETFs will comply with the Investment Company Act of …
On December 20, the CFTC issued its proposed interpretation of the term “actual delivery” in the context of how it expects to regulate retail virtual currency contracts. The deadline for public comment on the proposal is March 20, 2018. This is important because the CFTC’s interpretation will determine whether a retail customer transaction on a …
Cryptocurrency’s Legal Considerations for Asset Managers The asset management community’s interest in cryptocurrencies (also called virtual currencies) has grown in tandem with the exponential increase in market price of Bitcoin in recent months. As recently as January 2017, a single Bitcoin could be traded for $1,000. Today, a single Bitcoin traded for $16,680; a Bitcoin …