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Mica Tracker

Online resource provides overview of delegated acts, technical standards, and guidelines for cryptoasset businesses.

Latham & Watkins has launched the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation Tracker, a new online resource that provides cryptoasset businesses with critical information to help navigate MiCA — a robust and detailed regulatory framework for cryptoassets.

Since MiCA was first published in the EU Official Journal in June 2023, various delegated acts, technical standards, and guidelines have come into force in different stages. By 30 December 2024…

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Paycheck advance products that are deemed consumer loans under the CFPB’s new proposal would be subject to increased disclosure and regulatory protections.

By Parag Patel, Barrie VanBrackle, and Deric Behar

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently proposed an interpretive rule titled “Consumer Credit Offered to Borrowers in Advance of Expected Receipt of Compensation for Work” (the Proposal). If finalized, the Proposal would designate “earned wage access” or “earned wage advance” products (EWAs) that require a fee as…

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The government will enact the new legislation to bring issuers of fiat-referencing stablecoins into the regulatory perimeter.

By Simon Hawkins, Adrian Fong, and Sam Maxson

On 17 July 2024, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released the consultation conclusions on their legislative proposal for a regulatory regime governing stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong (Consultation Conclusions). The next day, the HKMA followed with its own press release announcing the first batch…

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Recent Supreme Court administrative law rulings change the power dynamic between the executive and the judiciary in critical areas of statutory interpretation, enforcement, and immunity from legal challenge.

By Jenny Cieplak, Arthur S. Long, Nima H. Mohebbi, Benjamin A. Naftalis, Marlon Q. Paz, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, Douglas K. Yatter, Adam Fovent, and Deric Behar

The 2023-2024 US Supreme Court session has concluded the term with a series of…

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The centralized repository would assist the CFPB and law enforcement in detecting patterns of misbehavior and recidivism adversely affecting consumers.

By Arthur S. Long, Barrie VanBrackle, and Deric Behar

On June 3, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule (Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders) (the Rule) to track judicial and regulatory enforcement orders against nonbank financial firms, and to report on such orders in a publicly available registry.…

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FIT21 would provide regulatory certainty for the US digital asset ecosystem, balancing support for innovation with consumer protection.

By Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, Adam Fovent, and Deric Behar

On May 22, 2024, the US House of Representatives (the House) passed H.R. 4763, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), with a good measure of bipartisan support: 279 votes in favor (208 Republicans and 71 Democrats) and 136 votes opposing (three Republicans…

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The Legal Statement applies areas of insolvency law to digital assets, providing valuable guidance on the approach English courts will take.

By Bruce Bell, Stuart Davis, Gabriel Lakeman, Jessica Walker, and Tim Bennett

In October 2023, the UK’s Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT), which is made up of senior judges, lawyers, a law commissioner, and the Financial Conduct Authority as an observer, issued a consultation on the treatment of digital assets in an English insolvency. This has resulted…

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The white paper examines how generative AI might shape the global derivatives markets, including new opportunities for industry stakeholders.

ISDA Future Leaders in Derivatives (IFLD) is a cohort of emerging leaders in the derivatives space representing financial services institutions, buy- and sell-side firms, and law firms (including Latham & Watkins, represented by associate Naffie Lamin).

In the white paper, IFLD provides guidance to regulators, financial institutions, technology providers, and other industry stakeholders to understand and explore potential use cases for…

Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Building in Washington DC

The decision, which addresses a broad range of market activity by Coinbase relating to 13 third-party tokens, could have significant implications for market participants.

By Latham & Watkins’ Litigation & Trial Practice

On March 27, 2024, Judge Katherine Failla of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) ruled[i] (the Ruling) in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on all but one argument raised in Coinbase’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, finding that the Commission adequately alleged the tokens at issue and Coinbase’s staking services are securities and that Coinbase has been operating as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency.  

The Ruling followed significant recent decisions in two other high-profile SEC enforcement actions regarding cryptocurrencies: SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc., No. 1:20-Civ-10832 (SDNY), and SEC v. Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., No. 1:23-cv-01346 (SDNY). The Coinbase decision, however, may be the most significant among the three decisions because (1) it addresses a broader range of market activity by a token exchange (as opposed to an issuer) and 13 third-party tokens (as opposed to fewer tokens from a single issuer), and (2) Judge Failla’s Ruling addresses the prior decisions in Ripple and Terraform and thus serves as the latest, most comprehensive opinion to date in the canon of case law on the issues.

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As federal regulation remains patchy, firms may want to consider a New York state charter as a potential avenue to expand digital asset offerings in a compliant manner.

By Arthur S. Long, Barrie VanBrackle, Stephen P. Wink, and Deric Behar

On March 22, 2024, WisdomTree, Inc., a global asset management firm, announced that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) granted a New York limited purpose trust company charter to its subsidiary WisdomTree Digital Trust Company…