On April 14, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reopened the comment period and provided supplemental information on proposed amendments to Rule 3b-16 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) which defines certain terms used in the definition of “exchange” in Section 3(a)(1) of the Exchange Act.
On February 9, 2023, the SEC announced that it had settled charges against the world’s third largest centralized crypto exchange by volume for offering a crypto staking program that the SEC deemed to be the offering and selling of unregistered securities.
FINRA recently updated the industry on observations to date from its August 2021 sweep on broker-dealer practices and controls concerning the opening of options accounts and related issues (options account supervision, communications, and diligence).
Potentially in connection with the recent events rocking the crypto industry, FINRA is conducting a new sweep on “Crypto Asset Communications” by broker-dealers. If they haven’t already received the request, broker-dealers with crypto-related affiliates likely will be contacted. Notably, this is the first announced sweep that FINRA has issued in over a year.
Covering six key priorities related to digital assets. While this does not constitute a change in policy, it does highlight the administration’s desire to encourage both regulation and innovation in this space.
On June 7, 2022, Senators Cynthia M. Lummis (R-WY) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a bill to regulate digital assets and promote financial innovation. The proposed legislation is the first significant, bipartisan effort to apply comprehensive regulation to digital assets.