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An ambitious proposal could bring digital assets into the mainstream regulatory fold.

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

During an eventful summer for the digital assets industry, it may have been easy to miss US Representative Don Beyer’s introduction of the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act (the Bill) on July 28, 2021. The Bill is perhaps the most promising effort to date by Congress to enact legislation that would address some of the legal ambiguities for digital assets and better define their place within existing financial regulatory structures.

Rep. Beyer described the current legal landscape for digital assets as “ambiguous and dangerous for investors and consumers.” Broadly, the Bill seeks to address deficiencies and/or ambiguities relating to consumer protection, trade reporting and transparency, and anti-money laundering / know your client (AML/KYC) procedures for digital assets.

The Bill also seeks to address a wide range of practical issues, from the fundamental (such as defining industry terms and categorizing cryptoassets) to the more nuanced (such as establishing standards for transaction reporting and consumer protection and advisories).

By Brian Meenagh, and Khaled Alhuneidi.

In June 2018, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) unveiled a dedicated cryptoasset regulatory framework by way of various amendments to the FSRA’s core regulations – the Financial Services and Markets Regulation (FSMR) as well as supplementary guidance thereto.

In May 2019, the FSRA issued updated and greatly expanded guidance (FSRA Guidance) that includes a more granular level of detail and addresses a range of topics not covered in the initial guidance. We consider some of these topics below.

The SEC issues second no-action letter for a digital token, but will “utility” token offerings reach the next level?

By Stephen P. Wink, Cameron R. Kates, Shaun Musuka, and Deric Behar

Gamers, rejoice! In only its second no-action letter to date for digital tokens, the SEC cleared the way for Pocketful of Quarters, Inc. (PoQ) to issue “Quarters,” one of two digital tokens issued by PoQ on the Ethereum blockchain.[i] PoQ, which was co-founded by a 12-year-old entrepreneur and his father, sought guidance from the SEC as to whether its offering of the stablecoin would require registration under Section 5 of the Securities Act and Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act. PoQ explained that Quarters are intended to be a “universal gaming token” that buyers can use across games deployed on PoQ’s platform. The benefit to gamers, PoQ asserts, is more efficient usage of value across participating online games rather than “siloed video game economies [that] result in large unspent balances of in-game currencies.”

The Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Guidance clarifies and expands FSRA expectations for OCAB Framework license holders.

By Brian A. Meenagh

In June 2018, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) unveiled a dedicated cryptoasset regulatory framework by way of various amendments to the FSRA’s core regulations — the Financial Services and Markets Regulation (FSMR), as well as supplementary guidance thereto.

In May 2019, the FSRA issued updated and greatly expanded guidance (FSRA Guidance) that includes a more granular level of detail and addresses a range of topics not covered in the initial guidance. This blog will consider some of these topics in more detail.