The Staff stated that most meme coins are not subject to federal securities laws or SEC fraud enforcement; who will oversee meme coins remains an open question.
By Jenny Cieplak, Zachary Fallon, Ghaith Mahmood, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, and Deric Behar
On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Division of Corporation Finance published a Staff Statement on Meme Coins (the Statement). The Statement is the first tangible clarification of how
Stablecoin regulation is a top priority for lawmakers, and three recent proposals reflect differing perspectives on how to achieve regulatory clarity while balancing safety and innovation.
By Jenny Cieplak, Arthur Long, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, Pia Naib, Connor Jobes, and Deric Behar
In the wake of President Trump’s executive order on digital assets aiming to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” (for more information, see this Latham blog post
The SEC’s move is part of a recent shift toward a less enforcement-centric approach that is set to reshape the regulatory framework for digital assets in the US.
By Stephen P. Wink, Naim Culhaci, and Deric Behar
On February 20, 2025, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voluntarily dismissed its appeal against a pair of related decisions by the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas to vacate the SEC’s Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 (together
In an opinion post for a16z crypto, Latham lawyer Jenny Cieplak calls for a new regulatory approach for tokenized securities.
A significant number of projects over the past several years have “tokenized” so-called real world assets, turning more than $20 billion in everything from debt to diamonds and more into tokens. Tokenization may sound like some kind of mysterious alchemy, but the concept is simple: It means creating a digital representation of some physical thing — a
Commissioner Hester Peirce outlined 10 priorities for the Crypto Task Force, aiming for regulatory clarity while promoting innovation in digital asset markets.
By Jenny Cieplak, Zachary Fallon, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, and Deric Behar
On February 4, 2025, Commissioner Hester Peirce, leader of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) newly established Crypto Task Force (the Task Force), published a statement outlining the Task Force’s main areas of focus. She noted that the list is
With its pro-crypto stance and urgent posture, the executive order promises to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.”
By Jenny Cieplak, Zachary Fallon, Arthur Long, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, Douglas K. Yatter, and Deric Behar
On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued a highly anticipated executive order on digital assets titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” (the Order). The Order asserts at the outset that the digital asset industry is critical for US innovation, economic development, and international leadership. It further undertakes “to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy. …”
Highlights of the Order are outlined below.
Under recent accounting rule changes, unrealized crypto gains must generally be reported on income statements, but questions arise about the alignment of the new Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax with constitutional tax principles.
By Andrew Strelka and Angelina Richards
Recent developments in taxation have brought cryptocurrency into the spotlight. The US Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Moore v. United States upheld a tax on undistributed foreign earnings, setting a precedent that could affect how unrealized gains are taxed under the new
A recent statutory instrument aims to remove legal uncertainty surrounding crypto staking and ease blockchain operations.
By Stuart Davis, Gabriel Lakeman, and Emma Trankeenan
On 9 January 2025, the UK Government published the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Collective Investment Schemes) (Amendment) Order 2025 (SI 2025/17) (the Staking SI) and the accompanying explanatory memorandum (the Explanatory Memorandum).
The Staking SI together with the Explanatory Memorandum confirm that arrangements where a firm provides services to stake cryptoassets on
The court ruled OFAC overstepped its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash, holding that its smart contracts are not “property” under the governing statutes.
By Eric Volkman, Jenny Cieplak, Stephen P. Wink, and Deric Behar
On November 26, 2024, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a Texas District Court decision and overturned the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions designations against certain smart contracts
With appropriate safeguards, distributed ledger technology may expand the use of non-cash assets as derivatives collateral, while mitigating certain market infrastructure inefficiencies.
By Yvette D. Valdez, Adam Bruce Fovent, and Deric Behar
On November 21, 2024, the Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee (the Subcommittee) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) issued a report (the Report) that recommended expanding the use of non-cash collateral in derivatives markets through distributed ledger technology (DLT).
In the