On January 22, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued its annual Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter. This year’s letter includes a number of new areas for firms to consider in seeking to improve their compliance, supervisory and risk management programs.… Continue Reading
On January 23, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper proposing new guidance further clarifying the circumstances under which cryptoassets are to be regulated.… Continue Reading
On January 9, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published advice addressed to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptoassets. On the same day, the European Banking Authority (EBA) also published advice on cryptoassets addressed to the European Commission.… Continue Reading
As part of its LabCFTC initiative, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a Request for Input (RFI) to deepen the CFTC’s understanding of the technology, mechanics, and markets for Ether and its use on the Ethereum Network. In particular, the RFI seeks to understand similarities and distinctions between Ether and Bitcoin (as well as other… Continue Reading
On December 7, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper on restricting contract for difference (CFD) and other derivative products sold to retail consumers. In its consultation paper, the FCA is proposing to intervene in the CFD market to address allegedly poor conduct by firms offering CFD products to retail customers, and… Continue Reading
On November 12, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published the final version of its cyber lexicon and an accompanying press release. The FSB’s cyber lexicon is a set of approximately 50 core terms related to cybersecurity and cyber resilience in the financial sector, but is not intended to be a comprehensive lexicon of all cybersecurity… Continue Reading
On November 13, the European Commission (EC) published a statement by Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis on the regulation of cryptoassets and initial coin offerings (ICOs), which he presented at the European Parliament Plenary debate in Strasbourg. Key takeaways include:… Continue Reading
On October 19, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an own-initiative report, produced by its Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG), on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto assets. The report gives advice to ESMA on steps it can take to contain the risks of ICOs and crypto assets, on top of existing… Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) will hold a meeting on Friday, October 5. The meeting will be held in the Conference Center at the CFTC’s Washington, DC headquarters from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm ET. Representatives of several TAC subcommittees, including the Automated and Modern Trading… Continue Reading
On September 19, the UK’s House of Commons Treasury Committee (Treasury Committee) published a report on its inquiry into crypto-assets, launched in February 2018. The report is an update of what was provided on its website in May 2018 (for further details, see the May 25, 2018 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest). Key… Continue Reading
On August 10, the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) published its draft report on the European Commission’s March 2018 proposal for a regulation on European crowdfunding service providers (CSPs). The draft report contains a draft European Parliament legislative resolution, the text of which sets out suggested amendments to the European Commission’s proposal.… Continue Reading
On July 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission disapproved a Bats BZX Exchange proposed rule change that would have permitted the listing and trading of shares of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (Trust) on BZX. This is the SEC’s second disapproval of the proposed rule change as it has previously disapproved the exchange’s original proposal in… Continue Reading
On July 20, the National Futures Association (NFA) submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval a proposed interpretive notice regarding Disclosure Requirements for NFA Members Engaging in Virtual Currency Activities. The new disclosure obligations will apply to all NFA members engaging in transactions in virtual currency derivatives and virtual currency, as well as other… Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an advisory warning customers of the dangers of purchasing digital coins or tokens. Among other things, the advisory warns customers that buying digital coins or tokens for speculative purposes carries significant risk and identifies various factors that could affect the current or longer-term value of a digital coin… Continue Reading
On July 16, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on the work of the FSB and standard setting bodies on cryptoassets. The report was delivered to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their meeting on July 21 – 22. The standard setting bodies, whose work is summarized in the… Continue Reading
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a “Dear CEO” letter dated June 11, on cryptoassets and financial crime. The purpose is to ensure that banks adequately manage the financial crime risks associated with cryptoassets. The FCA defines cryptoassets as any publicly available medium of exchange that features a distributed ledger and a decentralized… Continue Reading
On May 21, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released a staff advisory that provides guidance to designated contract markets (DCMs) and swap execution facilities (SEFs) that plan to list virtual currency derivatives for trading and clearing organizations (DCOs) intending to clear virtual currency derivatives. The advisory notes that the CFTC’s recommendations are informed by the… Continue Reading
On May 22, the UK’s House of Commons Treasury Committee (Treasury Committee) updated its webpage on its inquiry into what it refers to as “digital currencies.” The webpage now provides links to written evidence the Treasury Committee has received from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE) in which they… Continue Reading
On March 27, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued Notice I-18-07, reminding commodity pool operators (CPOs), commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and introducing brokers (IBs) to immediately notify NFA by amending the firm-level section of their respective annual questionnaires if they trade any virtual currency products or solicit or accept any order in virtual currency products,… Continue Reading
The application window for businesses to be part of cohort 4, the latest cohort, of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulatory sandbox is open until January 31. Businesses such as authorized firms, unauthorized firms that require authorization and technology businesses can apply to each cohort of the FCA’s sandbox.… Continue Reading
On January 8, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its annual Regulatory and Examination Priority Letter detailing various issues that will be the subject of particular regulatory focus and scrutiny this year. Many of the areas noted are carry-overs from previous years, including the protection of senior investors and other retail customers, new product… Continue Reading
On December 14, 2017, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued Notices regarding commodity pool operators (CPOs), commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and introducing brokers (IBs), outlining new reporting requirements for CPOs, CTAs and IBs that deal in virtual currencies.… Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s LabCFTC has issued a primer on cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technology. The primer is the first in a series that is intended to provide the public with educational information on financial technology innovation. In the primer, LabCFTC highlights various risks inherent in cryptocurrencies, including operational risks, cybersecurity risks, speculative risks… Continue Reading
