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Legal Update

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Following a host of notable bankruptcy filings in the digital asset industry, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) recently issued guidance (the DFS Guidance) to emphasize sound custody and disclosure practices for firms providing digital asset custody services to better protect customers in the event of an insolvency or similar proceeding.

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.

A number of factors are driving up the incidence of climate related litigation and enforcement which has been most marked in North America but other regions are now catching up. Financial institutions given their critical place in financing economic activity are increasingly the focus of action. Financial institutions are well advised to prepare for and mitigate the risk, for example, from reviewing their corporate strategies around climate change and carbon reduction to taking note of regulators’ expectations.