In 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) finalized rules creating the BitLicense for virtual currency exchanges operating in New York state. New York is currently the only state to have a licensing regime specifically for virtual currency exchanges.
The industry has bemoaned the BitLicense since it was proposed. Critics say that the
On Jan. 14, 2020, the Financial Services Agency of Japan published draft amendments of enforcement orders, cabinet office ordinances and guidelines concerning the recently amended and enacted crypto asset laws. The amended laws enhance the regulations on transactions related to crypto assets, such as cryptocurrency trades and administration, crypto derivatives, and security token offerings.
The
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 digital currencies of entities licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) under the 2018 Digital Asset Business Act (DABA), becoming the first nation to do
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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In a significant step forward for the cryptocurrency industry, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued its first “no-action” letter (NAL) to a U.S.-based company using utility tokens created for consumptive use rather than investment. The regulator sent the letter to TurnKey Jet, Inc. (TKJ) on April 3, 2019, agreeing with the Florida-based air charter
A bill to amend the Japanese laws regulating cryptocurrency exchange businesses or financial instruments transactions, including the Act on Settlement of Funds (Settlement Act) and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), was submitted to the Diet on March 15, 2019. The bill proposes to call cryptocurrencies “Crypto Assets” (CA) rather than “Virtual Currencies” (VC)
2018 was a year of transformation for the blockchain industry. While the market continued to see technological advancements in smart contracts, platform functionality, scalability and security, regulators took a firmer rein in pursuing those seeking to exploit the uninitiated or those engaged in outright fraud. In this issue of Greenberg Traurig’s Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Newsletter,
Colorado recently passed legislation that will facilitate the sale and transfer of digital tokens in Colorado. Under the Digital Token Act, Colorado businesses will be permitted to effect transactions involving the sale and transfer between certain persons of digital tokens secured through a decentralized ledger or database, with a focus on the production, distribution, and
The rise of blockchain technology ventures raising money preternaturally through initial coin offerings and token generation events (collectively, ICOs) is a capital formation disruptor, one which has and will continue to spawn considerable futures, fortunes, failures — and frauds. Blockchain-based ICOs have, through 121 offerings closed during January-August 2017, raised over $1.78 billion, with an
On Oct. 12, 2017, the Investor Advisory Committee of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (the SEC) hosted a panel discussion on blockchain technology. The session represented another instance of the SEC’s ongoing consideration of the impact of blockchain technology on U.S. securities markets and investors.
Different perspectives on blockchain technology and its application to U.S.