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From the outset of his time in office, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has made it clear that establishing oversight of crypto assets represent one his priorities. In a speech last week, Gensler said that agency will be “very active” in bringing digital currency under its investor protection framework, saying further that the digital assets will not mature if they are not brought under broad regulatory oversight. The regulator’s position is not restricted to mere words; a recent report shows that the agency has indeed been active in asserting its cryptocurrency oversight through enforcement actions. According to a recent report from Cornerstone Research, the agency has bought 19 enforcement actions related to cryptocurrency in the first nine months of 2021. The report, entitled “SEC Cryptocurrency Enforcement: Q3 2021 Update,” can be found here.
Continue Reading SEC Enforcement Activity Targets Crypto Assets

Here at The D&O Diary, we make it our business to watch securities class action lawsuit filings as they come in, to keep an eye on filing trends as they develop. For example, recently we have been looking for coronavirus-related securities class action lawsuits. But while we were scanning the horizon for COVID-19 suits, something else unexpectedly materialized – all of the sudden, on April 3, 2020, a great big pile of cryptocurrency-related securities class action lawsuits were filed in the Southern District of New York. The filing of eleven total cryptocurrency-related securities suits in a single day is really unprecedented in my experience.
Continue Reading Plaintiffs File a Slew of Cryptocurrency-Related Securities Suits

John Reed Stark

On February 27, 2020, the SEC announced that it had settled charges against the actor Steven Seagal on charges that he had failed to disclose compensation he received for promoting an initial coin offering. In the following guest post, John Reed Stark, President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, takes a look at three important takeaways from the SEC’s order against Seagal. A version of this article originally appeared on Securities Docket. I would like to thank John allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Takeaways from the SEC’s Fight with Steven Seagal

John Reed Stark

In the following guest post, John Reed Stark takes a closer look at President Donald Trump’s recent Twitter tirade against cryptocurrency and lays out a roadmap for the President to follow if his administration were to crack down on cryptocurrency. John is President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement. A version of this article previously appeared on Securities Docket. I would like to thank John for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: A Roadmap for President Trump’s Crypto-Crackdown

John Reed Stark

In the following guest post, John Read Stark, President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, takes a look at the latest cryptocurrency phenomenon — the  “initial exchange offering,” or IEO. A version of this article originally appeared on Securities Docket. I would like to thank John for allowing me to publish his article. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit an article Here is John’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: The Looming SEC IEO Smackdown

John Reed Stark

In a February 14, 2019 order, Southern District of California Judge Gonzalo Curiel entered an order reversing his earlier decision on the same issue and concluding that the digital tokens offered by cryptocurrency company Blockvest LLC represented “securities” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. In the following guest post, John Reed Stark, President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, takes a look at Judge Curiel’s ruling and what it many mean for future securities litigation involving digital currency offerings. A version of this article previously was published on Securities Docket. I would like to thank John for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Judge Reverses Blockvest Decision: ICOs are Securities

John Reed Stark

On November 29, 2018, the SEC announced that it had settled charges with boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and music producer DJ Khaled for failing to disclose payments they received for promoting investments in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the following guest post, John Reed Stark, the President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, takes a look at the SEC’s actions against Mayweather and Khaled and identifies some important takeaways from the SEC’s orders. I would like to thank John for his willingness to allow me to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Five Hidden Takeaways from the Khaled and Mayweather SEC Orders

Liam Fitzpatrick

As I have noted in a number of recent posts, the question of providing appropriate insurance solutions for cryptocurrency companies – particularly for companies about the complete an initial coin offering (ICO) – continues to be a significant challenge. In the following guest post, Liam Fitzpatrick, Head of Public Offerings Focus Group for Marsh in London, takes a look at the characteristics of an ICO company that could make the company a more acceptable risk to prospective insurers. A version of this article previously appeared on Marsh’s Risk in Context blog. I would like to thank Liam for his willingness to allow me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Liam’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Top Tips on Getting ‘Insurance Ready’ for an ICO

Karen Boto

As prior posts on this blog have noted (most recently here), the rise of cryptocurrencies is one of the most important and interesting recent developments in the financial arena. The rise of cryptocurrencies presents a number of challenges. Among the challenges is providing appropriate insurance solutions for cryptocurrency companies. In the following guest post, Karen Boto, a Legal Director at Clyde & Co law firm, takes a look at these cryptocurrency-related insurance issues. A version of this article was previously published as a Clyde & Co client alert. I would like to thank Karen for her willingness to allow me to publish her article as a guest post. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Karen’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Cryptocurrencies – To Insure or Not to insure?

As I have previously noted, the dramatic recent rise in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and in transactions involving cryptocurrencies generally has been accompanied by a number of securities class action lawsuits alleging, among other things, that the digital currencies’ issuers or sponsors failed to register the coins or tokens as securities with the SEC as required by the federal securities laws. These lawsuits raise a number of novel and interesting issues, including jurisdictional issues and other concerns arising from the cross-border nature of many of these transactions. On August 7, 2018, in a detailed decision in the securities class action relating to the 2017 Tezos ICO, Northern District of California Judge Richard Seeborg ruled on a number of these threshold issues. Among other things, Judge Seeborg’s decision contains an interesting analysis of the place of the ICO transactions took place in order to determine whether or not the U.S. securities laws apply. Judge Seeborg’s order can be found here.
Continue Reading Tezos ICO Securities Suit Dismissal Motion Denial Addresses Key Threshold Issues