Regulatory

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On December 12, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced conditional approval for five national trust bank charter applications from five major crypto companies. These conditional approvals mark a notable development in the federal supervision of crypto-native business models, underscoring the OCC’s continued caution in extending the national banking framework to firms engaged in digital asset custody and stablecoin-related activities.Continue Reading OCC Conditionally Approves Digital Asset Trust Bank Charters, Signaling Cautious Expansion of Federal Oversight

On April 18, 2025, the State of Oregon brought a civil enforcement action against Coinbase Global, Inc. (“Coinbase”) for the alleged sale of unregistered securities. In a press release, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield openly acknowledged the action was in response to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) dropping its own case against Coinbase, noting his belief that “states must fill the enforcement vacuum being left by federal regulators who are giving up under the new administration.” This begs the question: is the federal government’s resetting of its approach to crypto regulation an “enforcement vacuum” or a return to order?Continue Reading Oregon Suit Muddies Crypto Regulatory Landscape

This January, Adrienne A. Harris was confirmed as superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, which administers New York’s BitLicense program, among others.  In a March 28 interview, Harris discussed the BitLicense program in detail and addressed some of its longstanding issues, including its slow response times to applicants and updating some of the outdated regulatory and operational aspects of the program.
Continue Reading New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services Addresses BitLicense Delays

A recent class-action lawsuit alleges that the “Uniswap Protocol” exchange is one of the largest crypto-asset exchanges in the world, which permits the  unlawful promotion, offer, and sale of crypto tokens as unregistered securities. According to the complaint, Uniswap has no barriers to entry for users looking to trade or swap crypto tokens on the exchange.  It requires no verification of an individual’s identity and conducts no “know-your-customer” (KYC) process, leading to rampant fraud. The complaint further alleges that Uniswap has enriched itself and the other defendants (including its VC backers) by collecting fees for issuers on every transaction executed on the exchange that is not disclosed in a transparent manner, in violation of securities laws. Other allegations are that Uniswap offered and sold unregistered securities throughout the United States on its exchange without registering as a national securities exchange or as a broker-dealer and without there being any registration statements in effect for the tokens it was selling, all in violation of applicable law.
Continue Reading Uniswap and VC Backers Sued For Selling Unregistered Securities

A couple rejected a refund settlement offer from the IRS over its tax treatment of tokens they earned from mining. Instead, the couple has sought formal adjudication on the issue from the federal courts. The government has filed a motion to dismiss claiming the issue is moot. The relevant issue is whether tax is due when crypto tokens are mined and awarded to the miners, as the IRS contended, or whether tax is due when the mined tokens are converted to fiat or cryptocurrency or otherwise used.
Continue Reading When Does Cryptocurrency Mining Create a Taxable Event? IRS Does Not Clarify

On March 9, President Biden signed a highly anticipated executive order outlining his administration’s cryptocurrency policy. We have previously blogged about the Biden administration’s working group on stablecoins and the Federal Reserve’s report on a potential U.S. central bank digital currency (“CBDC”).
Continue Reading President Biden Signs Executive Order Outlining Crypto Policy

FinCEN has issued a notice that it intends to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding reports of foreign financial accounts (FBAR) to include virtual currency as a type of reportable account under 31 CFR 1010.350. Currently, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations do not define a foreign account holding virtual currency as a type of reportable account. (See 31 CFR 1010.350(c)). As a result, the notice indicates that “at this time, a foreign account holding virtual currency is not reportable on the FBAR (unless it is a reportable account under 31 C.F.R. 1010.350 because it holds reportable assets besides virtual currency).”
Continue Reading FinCEN Announces Intention to Require FBAR Reporting of Crypto Currency

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report on Regulatory Approaches to the Tokenisation of Assets (Jan. 2021).  The report notes that: “Policy makers in different jurisdictions have approached tokenisation in different ways, either by applying existing financial regulations to tokenised assets; by introducing new tailor-made regulatory frameworks or by adapting existing rules to accommodate the application of DLTs in tokenisation.” Some of the key takeaways from the report are:
Continue Reading Regulatory Approaches to the Tokenisation of Assets

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) recently signaled its approval for banks to fully wade into the cryptocurrency custodian space.  On in a July 22, 2020 interpretive letter, the OCC concluded that a national bank may provide cryptocurrency custody services on behalf of its customers, including by holding the unique cryptographic keys associated with cryptocurrency, so long as the institution is able to effectively manage the risks and complies with applicable law.
Continue Reading Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Affirms Authority of a National Bank to Provide Cryptocurrency Custody Services