On Jan. 30, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued (i) guidance regarding the disclosure of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics in Management’s Discussion and Analysis, or MD&A
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FINRA’s 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter
On Jan. 9, 2020, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter, in which it identifies its areas of examination focus for…
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SEC Proposes Conditional Exemption for Certain Activities of Registered Municipal Advisors
Section 15 (a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) generally prohibits a broker or dealer from effecting “any transactions in, or to induce or attempt to induce…
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U.S. House Passes Bill That Would Require Disclosure of Beneficial Owners of U.S. Corporations and Limited Liability Companies
On Oct. 22, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives, in a 249 to 173 vote, passed H.R. 2513, known as the “Corporate Transparency Act of 2019.” The Corporate…
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CFTC, FinCEN and SEC Issue Joint Statement Reminding Persons in Digital Assets Space of Obligations Under Bank Secrecy Act
On Oct. 11, 2019, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), published a Joint Statement on …
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Bermuda Launches Two Key Fintech Initiatives, Becomes First Nation to Accept Stable Coins for Government Payments
On Oct. 16, 2019, Bermuda Premier the Hon. E. David Burt JP, MP announced that Bermuda has committed to accept, for payment of government taxes, fees, and services, 1:1 U.S.-dollar-backed…
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IRS Issues New Cryptocurrency Guidance
On Oct. 9, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released revenue ruling (Rev. Rul. 2019-24) and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document, which provide additional guidance on the tax treatment and reporting obligations for transactions involving virtual currency (also known as cryptocurrency). This guidance supplements the original guidance that was issued in 2014 in the form of a notice (Notice 2014-21), which provides a baseline rule that cryptocurrency is property for federal income tax purposes.
Rev. Rul. 2019-24 addresses questions related to the tax treatment of hard forks. The revenue ruling describes a hard fork as a protocol change that results in a permanent split of a new distributive ledger from a legacy or existing distributed ledger, resulting in the creation of a new cryptocurrency on the new distributed ledger in addition to the legacy cryptocurrency on the legacy distributed ledger.
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SEC Passes Long-Awaited New Rule 6c-11 to Modernize Regulation of ETFs
On Sept. 26, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it had adopted a new Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Investment Company Act” or…
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Recent Rocky Mountain State Law Blockchain Developments
Rocky Mountain States Make Headway in Blockchain-Related Legislation
With Wyoming having become the first state to define “utility tokens” as a new asset class (see article in Blockchain & Cryptocurrency’s …
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Joint Statement Emphasizes Risk-Focused Approach to Examinations of Banks’ BSA/AML Compliance Programs
On July 22, 2019, the federal bank regulatory agencies and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (collectively, the “Agencies”), issued a Joint Statement on Risk-Focused Bank …
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