Congress will be “starting from scratch” in attempting to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins — an issue that many believe is the top digital asset legislative priority. By Arthur S. Long, Parag Patel, Yvette Valdez, Pia Naib, and Deric Behar On April 15, 2023, the US House Financial Services Committee (Committee) published a draft … Continue Reading
The new regime specifies licensing and reporting requirements for a range of activities related to virtual assets in the Emirate of Dubai. By Brian A. Meenagh, Matthew Rodwell, and Ksenia Koroleva On February 7, 2023, the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulation Authority (VARA) adopted the Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023 (the Regulations) together with … Continue Reading
The Guidance clarifies the regulator’s expectations on safekeeping customer digital assets, and the disclosures that must accompany such arrangements. By Arthur S. Long, Parag Patel, Marlon Q. Paz, Yvette D. Valdez, Barrie VanBrackle, Pia Naib, Donald Thompson, and Deric Behar On January 23, 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) published Guidance on Custodial … Continue Reading
The HKMA’s discussion paper seeks feedback on its proposed regulatory approach to stablecoins, with responses due by 31 March 2022. By Simon Hawkins and Adrian Fong On 12 January 2022, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), Hong Kong’s principal regulator for banks and payment systems, published a discussion paper seeking the public’s views on its … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
A new Executive Order could help open the door for the portability of consumer financial data. By Charles Weinstein and Deric Behar Definitive regulation for open banking may be on the horizon in the US. On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (the Order), which … Continue Reading
MAS confirms regulatory approach for derivative contracts on payment tokens. By Farhana Sharmeen and Marc Jia Renn Tan On 15 May 2020, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the MAS) issued its response to feedback about its proposed regulatory approach for derivative contracts that reference payment tokens as underlying assets (Payment Token Derivatives), confirming that it … Continue Reading
The report encourages the G20 to consider a broad set of supervisory principles when evaluating global stablecoin arrangements. By Todd Beauchamp, Stuart Davis, Christian F. McDermott, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, Simon Hawkins, and Deric Behar On April 14, 2020, the G20’s Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a consultation on the regulation, supervision, and … Continue Reading
The landmark authorization signals the Mexican government will likely grant similar licenses to more FinTech companies in the coming months. By Yvette Valdez, Roderick Branch, and Daniel Gallo Mainero* Nearly two years after the Mexican government enacted its Financial Technology Institutions Law (FinTech Law), the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) issued its first license … Continue Reading
Latham derivatives and FinTech partner Yvette Valdez explores regulatory issues impacting cryptocurrency derivatives on the Fintech Beat podcast. By Yvette D. Valdez New York partner Yvette Valdez, a member of Latham & Watkins’ FinTech Industry Group, recently discussed timely issues at the intersection of cryptoassets and derivatives law on a new episode of Fintech Beat. … Continue Reading
New regulatory requirements, including registration and customer disclosure requirements, apply to regulated and unregulated persons carrying on relevant cryptoasset business. By Stuart Davis and Sam Maxson On 20 December 2019, the UK government published the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (the Amending Regulations). The Amending Regulations update the Money Laundering, Terrorist … Continue Reading
It was a year filled with tantalizing tidbits and many loose ends. By Stephen P. Wink, Cameron R. Kates, Shaun Musuka, and Deric Behar 2019 marked the 10th year since blockchain technology was released into the wild by its still unknown inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, who mined the first bitcoin block in January 2009. In the … Continue Reading
UK Treasury Committee report warns that the current level and frequency of disruption and consumer harm is unacceptable. By Carl Simon Fernandes, Nicola Higgs, Fiona M. Maclean, Christian F. McDermott, Rob Moulton, Andrew C. Moyle, Stuart Davis, and Charlotte Collins On 28 October 2019, the Treasury Committee published a report on IT failures in the financial services sector. The … Continue Reading
Global monetary authorities and financial regulators have responded forcefully to the advent of privately developed global stablecoins. By Todd Beauchamp, David L. Concannon, Stephen P. Wink, Simon Hawkins, Stuart Davis, and Deric Behar A new report highlights the risks of global stablecoins and enumerates the legal, regulatory, and oversight hurdles a global stablecoin must clear … Continue Reading
Latham & Watkins lawyers provide an in-depth look at the regulation of cryptoasset trading platforms in key jurisdictions. By Todd Beauchamp, Nozomi Oda, Yvette D. Valdez, Stephen P. Wink, and Simon Hawkins Cryptoasset trading is a fast-growing part of the financial sector. Some countries have wholeheartedly embraced cryptoassets; others have been more reticent to permit … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
The regulators attempt to clarify their position on the possible custody of digital assets by broker-dealers, but questions remain. By Stephen P. Wink, Cameron R. Kates, Shaun Musuka, and Deric Behar The SEC and FINRA recently released a joint staff statement (Joint Statement) addressing the custody of digital asset securities by broker-dealers. For some time, … Continue Reading
The paper discusses supervision and regulatory issues of cryptocurrencies, and finds that a central bank digital currency in the EU is not (yet) warranted. By Max von Cube In May, the European Central Bank’s Crypto-Assets Task Force published a paper on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Ripple (referred to as narrowly defined “crypto-assets”). The … Continue Reading
Federal legislators introduce two bills in an attempt to provide the blockchain economy with regulatory certainty. By Stephen P. Wink, Morgan E. Brubaker, Cameron R. Kates, and Shaun Musuka US regulators and federal legislators may be heeding the calls of crypto-enthusiasts for legal clarity regarding the status of digital assets and cryptocurrencies (collectively, Tokens). Two … Continue Reading
The new legislation may act as a catalyst for a crypto-evolution within Russian law. By Andrew C. Moyle and Elizaveta Bacheyeva On 18 March 2019, the Russian legislator took the first step in introducing the Russian civil law system to the new universe of digital assets. The Russian Civil Code was amended to include concepts … Continue Reading
The SEC provides additional guidance for analyzing whether a digital asset is a security. By Stephen P. Wink, Cameron R. Kates, and Shaun Musuka On April 3, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (the SEC) released a framework (the Framework) for assessing whether a blockchain-issued token or … Continue Reading
UK regulators are addressing regulatory uncertainty through a number of regulatory initiatives due for implementation in 2019. By Stuart Davis Background Following the FCA’s consultation paper that offers guidance on the regulatory status of cryptoassets published in January 2019, the regulator is now engaging with the industry and other stakeholders such as law firms to … Continue Reading
The FCA has outlined its approach to implementing key standards under the revised Payment Services Directive. By Christian McDermott, Stuart Davis, Brett Carr, and Charlotte Collins The FCA has published a statement on its website relating to the European Banking Authority’s (EBA’s) Opinion and draft Guidelines of 13 June 2018 on the Regulatory Technical Standards … Continue Reading
