On May 19, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration issued a Request for Comment (RFC), seeking public input on the development of a framework for driving economic competitiveness and leadership in, and leveraging of, digital asset technologies as part of reinforcing U.S. leadership in the global financial system. This RFC is in response to
On March 9, Wyoming amended the Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) Supplement (Supplement), which permits decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to incorporate and obtain legal status as limited liability companies under Wyoming’s Limited Liability Company Act. The most distinctive modification of the Supplement concerns the minimum threshold of a DAO’s overall membership that must participate in proposal
On March 31, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed HB 583, the Digital Asset Act. The bill amends Title 28 of the Idaho Code, which governs commercial transactions generally, to include a new chapter dedicated to regulation of digital assets. The bill goes into effect on July 1. Idaho’s bill is multifaceted:
(1) It distinguishes
On March 31, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (Bulletin), noting that a company safeguarding or exerting custody over cryptocurrency on behalf of its platform users must clearly report the users’ assets as liabilities on the company’s financial statement, along with the risks consumers face by entrusting the company
On April 6, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) released a draft of his proposed stablecoin legislation titled, Stablecoin Transparency of Reserves and Uniform Safe Transactions Act, or the Stablecoin TRUST Act. Toomey, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, has been a vocal proponent of blockchain innovation, and his recent bill calls for a deft
On March 31, a New York federal court dismissed a proposed securities class-action lawsuit filed against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The lawsuit, one of a host of similar actions brought against cryptocurrency exchanges in 2020, was filed by token buyers who purchased cryptocurrency on Binance’s platform.
The plaintiffs asserted that Binance had violated
Several recent releases of draft legislation, reports, and speeches highlight the federal government’s efforts in the first quarter of 2022 to address the rapidly developing digital asset marketplace and its regulatory landscape.
Congressional Legislative Activity
On February 15, Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH) introduced the “Keep Your Coins Act,” which is intended “[t]o prohibit
The fiscal year 2022-2023 budget for New York, which takes effect in two months, includes requiring the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to charge a new “assessment” to all virtual currency businesses licensed in New York in order to “defray operating expenses.”
The legislation, signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul on
On April 11, Virginia enacted a new law (HB 263), which goes into effect on July 1, 2022, permitting “banks” to provide customers with “virtual currency custody services so long as the bank has adequate protocols in place to effectively manage risks and comply with applicable laws.” The law, in a first for
On April 7, in front of American University’s Kogod School of Business Center for Innovation, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen addressed the Biden administration’s forthcoming legislative approach to digital assets, as we discussed here, as well as the digitization of the American economy, which Yellen assessed through the lens of five lessons she