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Keith J. Barnett

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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.

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In the first episode of The Crypto Exchange, Troutman Pepper Consumer Financial Services Partner Ethan Ostroff welcomes his colleagues Keith Barnett and Carlin McCrory to discuss recent developments with convenience fees in the payments industry. With both of their practices focusing on payments-related issues, Keith and Carlin take a deep dive into the recent CFPB advisory opinion on convenience fees and how it affects payment processors, money transmitters, and loan servicers. Additionally, they explore how the CFPB’s advisory affects card network rules and how the rules mesh with state laws.

As peer-to-peer money transfer services (or cash apps) become more popular, there has been an increase in the number of scams enticing consumers to transfer funds to fraudsters. The law currently provides that the banks that own the cash apps are only required to reimburse transactions not authorized by the customer — meaning if a…

Troutman Pepper’s The Crypto Exchange podcast explores the trends, challenges, and legal issues our clients and others in the industry face daily. Featuring insights from the firm’s FinTech and Payments practice groups, our podcast examines everything from NFTs to Web3, bitcoin to blockchain, fintech to regtech, and payment processing to data processing. Our Troutman Pepper attorneys, along with industry experts and insiders, will walk you through the federal and state regulatory, legal, and business intricacies of this rapidly evolving industry sector.

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…