Digital Assets Download, Powered by Mayer Brown

Unless you’ve been living with your head in the sand at “Bitcoin Beach,” the Ethereum Merge was executed on September 15 and early feedback has been positive from many (though miners may have a different view). To see what else you may have missed since Ethereum’s historic move, check out the latest edition of Digital Assets Download, Powered by Mayer Brown.

For the Uninitiated: Digital Assets Download is a curated mix of insights and headlines that provide a Layer 3 Legal Perspective™ on the digital assets multiverse – created by Mayer Brown’s global Digital Assets, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency group. Check out all of our previous editions of the Digital Assets Download here.

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Original Mayer Brown content, perspectives and insights from across our global platform that touch on digital assets, decentralized finance, cryptocurrencies and related fields.

US Treasury Issues Three Reports on the Future of Digital Assets and Central Bank Digital Currency

On September 16, 2022, the Treasury Department issued three reports pursuant to President Joseph Biden’s March 9 Executive Order 14067 on “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.” The issuance of the reports was followed by Treasury Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang giving remarks at the Brookings Institution on September 22 explaining the reports and their recommendations. In this Legal Update, the Mayer Brown team tells you what you need to know about the reports and assesses how they fit into the evolving landscape of crypto legislative proposals.

SEC and CFTC Jointly Propose Amendments to Form PF Regarding Digital Assets

The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently proposed amendments to the reporting requirements for private investment funds that address, among other things, the growing popularity of digital asset strategies among new and existing private investment funds managed by registered investment advisers and the increasing volatility these assets have seen in recent years. In this Legal Update, our team breaks down the proposals and provides our insights on the possible regulatory road ahead for advisers and digital assets.

DOJ Announces National Network of Prosecutors Focused on Cryptocurrency Crime

On September 16, 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the creation of the Digital Asset Coordinator (DAC) Network—a national network of over 150 federal prosecutors from around the country focused on combatting crypto-related crime. The DAC Network will be led by the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and is a part of the Biden administration’s broader push to bolster enforcement measures in the digital asset space. Members of our White Collar Defense & Compliance and Regulatory & Investigations teams highlight the key takeaways from this announcement.

A curated selection of headlines and news from around this multiverse—including deals, developments and other disruptions in DeFi.

US CFTC Imposes $250,000 Penalty Against bZeroX, LLC and Its Founders and Charges Successor Ooki DAO for Offering Illegal, Off-Exchange Digital-Asset Trading, Registration Violations, and Failing to Comply with Bank Secrecy Act. Read More>>

US SEC Imposes $35 Million in Penalties on Sparkster for Unregistered Crypto Asset Offering and Related Charges for Crypto Asset Promoter. Read More >>

Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity, Other Wall Street Firms Start Crypto Exchange EDX Markets. Read More >>

Australia’s Financial Watchdog Expands Team to Better Regulate Crypto. Read More >>

United Kingdom Introduces Bill to Make Crypto Seizures ‘Easier and Quicker.’ Read More >>

Eight US State Regulators Charge Nexo for Failure to Register Interest Account. Read More >>

Nexo Buys Stake in Federally Chartered US Bank Summit National. Read More >>

US Fed’s Powell Says There’s ‘Real Need’ for Better Crypto Regulation. Read More >>

Crypto Regulation Laggards Spur Arbitrage Risk - French Central Banker. Read More >>

Sweden, Norway and Israel Central Banks Test Cross-Border CBDC Payments. Read More >>

Bank of England Deputy Governor Says Existing Financial Regulations Should Extend to Crypto. Read More >>

US IRS Targets Crypto Tax Evaders With M.Y. Safra Bank Summons Over SFOX Data. Read More >>

EU Securities Regulator Clears Next Step for Tokenized Trading Pilot Program. Read More >>

Nasdaq Bets Big on Digital Assets Despite Crypto Turmoil. Read More >>

FTX Wins Auction for Bankrupt Crypto Broker Voyager Digital’s Assets. Read More >>

California’s DFPI Launches Crackdown on Crypto Asset-Fueled Ponzi and Pyramid Schemes. Read More>>

Selected events for deeper dives into different parts of the digital assets and DeFi world.

14th Annual Technology & IP Transactions Conference

Our 14th Annual Technology & IP Transactions Conference will take place on October 6, 2022, in Chicago. This interactive forum will focus on legal challenges and growth opportunities in today’s changing information technology (IT) services and software marketplace and include a keynote by Stanton Jones, distinguished analyst and leader of ISG’s Index research. The program will cover Top 5 Things You Need to Know About the IT Services Sector, Structuring IT Agreements for Cost Savings and Resilience, Turning Around Troubled Outsourcing Deals, Optimizing Contract Terms for Multi-Layer Tech Solutions, Navigating Open Source Pitfalls in Transactions, Monetizing Data, Avoiding Common Contracting Mistakes for New SaaS Providers, and Demystifying NFTs and the Metaverse.

For those new to the digital assets and DeFi world, each edition of the Digital Assets Download will highlight a different term to help you be a part of the conversation.

The “Merge”

The Merge was the joining of the original version of the Ethereum blockchain (which was initially launched in 2015 and used a proof-of-work consensus mechanism) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer. The Merge was executed on September 15, 2022.

The Merge represented the official switch to using proof-of-stake as the mechanism for block production on the Ethereum network. Despite the change in the consensus mechanism, the entire transactional history of Ethereum remained unchanged.

How can we better serve as your oracle to the digital assets world? We’d love to hear from you. 

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