As cryptocurrency and blockchainbecome more prominent in today’s financial markets, regulators around the worldare coping with how to maintain transparency and legitimacy in the market. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its new cyber unit began requesting specific information about cryptocurrency brokerage and Initial Coin Offerings(ICO’s) for enforcement purposes. (Josephine Wolff, Slate; Benjamin Bain, Bloomberg). The results of the requests remain unclear, but the probe for information sheds light on the SEC’s suspicion of misconduct.
Read MoreOn August 7, Elon Musk made an abrupt announcement regarding his plan to take Tesla private. Mr. Musk claimed that this Twitter announcement came after he had “secured” funding from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. (Ben Bain and Matt Robinson, Bloomberg). After the announcement, Tesla’s shares rose in value to over $381 per share, from $342 (the closing price on August 6). (Mark Matousek, Business Insider). Nevertheless, the share price dropped dramatically over the next few weeks to as low as $263 on September 7.
Read MoreEarlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended Rule 15c2–12 (17 C.F.R. § 240.15c2–12). Rule 15c2-12 ensures that underwriters secure an agreement with states, cities, and other governmental entities issuing municipal securities that those entities will disclose information about the issued securities to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) on an ongoing basis. This information is intended to inform interested parties on the financial standing or other condition of the state government that may have an effect on the bonds.
Read MoreThe precipitous rise of cryptocurrencies has numerous implications for securities trading, the most fundamental of which is when, and if, any given cryptocurrency exchange is required to become a registered exchange as defined by the SEC.
A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that can be traded and exchanged (Ian King, Investopedia). One defining feature of cryptocurrency is that it is decentralized, meaning it is not issued by a central bank or regulatory agency. Id.This foundational aspect of cryptocurrencies is desirable to investors because unlike traditional fiat currencies that are subject to governmental control and manipulation, cryptocurrencies and their values operate independently from a central authority.
Read MoreAn initial coin offering (ICO) is a capital raising mechanism whereby companies sell bitcoins to investors or buyers in exchange for funds. (Usman Chohan, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): Risks, Regulation, and Accountability). An ICO is different from traditional capital raises. Rather than selling shares of stock in a company, an ICO offers digital currencies or cryptocurrencies. In addition, most ICOs do not offer equity or a stake in the company’s projects. The concept of using ICOs to raise capital has grown exponentially in recent years as they pose a cost-efficient way of conducting transactions with little regulation. ICOs, however, also pose a greater risk of fraud due to their place in the unregulated market.
Read MoreThe regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies is fast paced, ever-changing, and hard to pin down (see Element Group report). To understand why governments are interested in regulating cryptocurrencies, background about their potential function is necessary. Cryptocurrencies enormous potential comes from the use of “public ledgers” which, through a complicated application of cryptology and software, reduce transaction costs associated with value transfer by creating independently verifiable transaction validations. The public ledger system, however, only documents transactions and ownership. The only identity recorded on the ledger is "a set of letters and numbers . . . representing the [user's] public cryptocurrency address."
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