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Ethan G. Ostroff

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Ethan’s practice focuses on financial services litigation and compliance counseling, as well as digital assets and blockchain technology. With a long track record of successful litigation results across the U.S., both bank and non-bank clients rely on him for comprehensive advice throughout their business cycle.

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On January 29, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (AG Committee), led by Chairman John Boozman (R‑AR), advanced S. 3755, the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA), on a party-line vote. The DCIA builds on the bipartisan, House-passed CLARITY Act to create a federal registration and compliance regime for key digital asset intermediaries. The DCIA also would provide a clear legal definition of “digital commodities” and establish a spot market digital commodity intermediary regulatory regime with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In the press release, Chairman Boozman framed the vote as “a critical step toward creating clear rules for digital asset markets” that protect consumers while allowing innovation to thrive.

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities

Federal Activities:

On February 6, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Market Participants Division reissued CFTC Staff Letter 25‑40 with a narrow revision…

On January 28, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Division of Corporation Finance, Division of Investment Management, and Division of Trading and Markets issued a joint statement explaining how existing federal securities laws apply when traditional securities are “tokenized” on blockchain or other crypto networks.

In 2025, the U.S. digital asset landscape evolved more dramatically than in any year since the industry’s inception. A pro‑innovation White House, an active Congress, and key regulators — including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Department of…

On January 29, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael S. Selig and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul S. Atkins held a joint “Harmonization: U.S. Financial Leadership in the Crypto Era” event at CFTC headquarters in Washington, D.C. Billed as an opportunity to align the agencies’ approaches to digital assets and to advance President Trump’s goal of making the U.S. “the crypto capital of the world,” the event marked a clear pivot away from the fragmented, enforcement‑driven posture of prior years toward coordinated rulemaking and market‑structure reform.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have rescheduled their joint event, “SEC – CFTC Harmonization: U.S. Financial Leadership in the Crypto Era.” Originally planned for January 27, the program will now take place on Thursday, January 29, from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET at CFTC headquarters in Washington, D.C.