About this Site:
This site is a resource for those interested in legal and regulatory developments in the application of blockchain technology, provided by Murphy & McGonigle. We regularly work with financial services companies that have a stake in legal and regulatory developments impacting blockchain technology. We created this site to provide periodic updates on important developments in the law surrounding blockchain technology.
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Six Trends Emerge in Murphy & McGonigle’s Newly Published “Blockchain Litigation: 2018 Year in Review Report”
by: Daniel M. Payne | (02/07/2019)
Murphy & McGonigle, the financial services and regulatory law firm, today released its Blockchain Litigation: 2018 Year in Review Report. Based on proprietary data the firm has collected from its Blockchain Litigation Database, the Report identifies six trends that have clearly emerged as blockchain and cryptocurrencies move closer to the mainstream.
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SEC Divisions' Statement on Digital Assets
by: Larry E. Bergmann , Matthew B. Comstock , Maxwell T.S. Thompson | (11/21/2018)
This article discusses the statement of the SEC's Divsions of Corporation Finance, Investment Managementa and Trading and Markets relating regulatory approaches to digital assets. We discuss in particular the path to compliance for entities that issued securities in a manner that did not comply with the registration requirements of the federal securities laws.
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Murphy & McGonigle’s leading FinTech & Blockchain Practice is pleased to publish a new edition of “Who’s On the Block,” a roundup of blockchain conferences, trends and upcoming events.
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SEC Charges Blockchain Investment Firm with Misleading Investors
by: Macauley B. Venora | Blockchain Law Center | (05/15/2019)
On Monday, the SEC entered an Order Instituting Cease and Desist Proceedings against a blockchain investment firm and its CEO for making material misrepresentations to its investors.
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FinCEN: Peer-to-Peer “Exchanger” of Virtual Currency is an Unregistered Money Transmitter
by: Katherine Cooper | Blockchain Law Center | (04/18/2019)
Eric Powers of Kern County, California, entered into a consent order today, April 18, 2019, with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for acting as an unregistered money transmitter. FinCEN determined that Powers’ purchase and sale of Bitcoin for U.S. Dollars in over 1,700 “peer-to-peer” transactions from 2012 through 2014 made him an “exchanger” of convertible virtual currency.
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The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance Issues Guidance on Security Status Analysis and Consumptive Tokens
by: Matthew B. Comstock | Blockchain Law Center | (04/05/2019)
The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued both a "Framework for 'Investment Contract' Analysis of Digital Assets" and a no-action letter relating to a blockchain-based consumptive token on April 3, 2019. The Framework is intended to be a plain English description of how the SEC staff applies the so-called Howey test to determine if a digital asset is a security under the federal securities laws. It also adddresses the concept of mutability of a digital asset whereby a digital asset initially issued as a security later converts to a digital asset that is not a security because of the digital asset's use on a fully-functional platform, among other things.
The Division also issued a no-action letter to an air charter services company, TurnKey Jet, Inc. The no-action letter permits TurnKey to issue a consumptive/utility token, subject to the criteria set out in the letter.
Blockchain Litigation Database
The Blockchain Litigation Database tracks blockchain and cryptocurrency-related litigation using a data-based, analytical approach to enable subscribers to follow the development of the case law, analyze legal risks, perform due diligence on counterparties, and more.