Photo of Keith J. Barnett

Keith’s experience representing clients in the financial services industry as a litigation, compliance, regulatory, investigations (internal and regulatory), and enforcement attorney spans 20 years. Keith represents clients against government regulators (CFPB, FTC, SEC, CFTC), industry regulators (FINRA), and private litigants in federal courts, state courts, and before arbitration and administrative law panels in the financial services industry.

On June 20, the Louisiana Office for Financial Institutions (OFI) proposed a Rule on licensure, registration, and regulation of persons engaging, or planning to engage, in virtual currency business activity in Louisiana. The Rule follows the mandate set by Louisiana’s Virtual Currency Business Act (VCBA), effective August 1, 2020, requiring virtual currency businesses to hold

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his guests and fellow Partners Keith Barnett and Ethan Ostroff as they discuss the recent request for comment from California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on cryptocurrency-related financial products and services under the California Consumer Financial Protection Law. Keith and Ethan share their ideas about what this request for comment says about the direction California may take in the world of cryptocurrency.

On June 6, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), member of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced a draft bipartisan bill, the Responsible Innovation Act (Act), which is Congress’s first attempt to construct an all-encompassing digital asset regulatory framework. The breadth of the Act is sweeping, and

On April 28, bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation, allowing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to oversee cryptocurrency spot markets. The legislation intends to create a framework to fill the regulatory gaps between the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) digital asset marketplace and related regimes.

According to bill

On June 8, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued new “Guidance on the Issuance of U.S. Dollar-Backed Stablecoins,” establishing a first-of-its-kind state standards for USD-backed stablecoins issued by entities subject to regulation by the NYDFS. Informal policies have been in place since 2018, but NYDFS Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris

On June 1, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) released an invitation for comment on the DFPI’s regulatory approach to crypto asset-related financial products and services, as well as the potential regulation of such products and services under the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL).

On May 4, Governor Gavin Newsom issued

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recently issued guidance on the use of blockchain analytics for all virtual currency businesses that either have a BitLicense or are chartered as limited purpose trust companies under the New York Banking Law (VC Entities), emphasizing “the importance of blockchain analytics to effective policies, processes, and

On May 4, following in the footsteps of President Biden’s recent executive order (Federal EO), California Governor Gavin Newsom issued his own blockchain-related executive order (CA EO), making California the first among the states to endorse a proactive, harmonized approach to regulate blockchain technology. The CA EO assesses how existing state and public institutions may

On April 28, the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (the J5), a global joint operational taxation group consisting of Australia, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States, issued an intelligence bulletin (Bulletin), enumerating its perceived dangers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFTs, ERC-20, and Fungibility

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are similar in the sense that