Digital Assets Download

Coming soon: All of our blockchain “Lingo” in live-action animation! Until then, check out the latest in digital assets with this newly minted 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)

The Lead Block

Perspectives and insights from Mayer Brown lawyers and other thought leaders that touch on digital assets, decentralized finance, cryptocurrencies and related fields.

News Node

Jack Dorsey-Backed Decentralized Social Network Bluesky Gets 30,000 Signups – for the Waitlist – in 48 Hours

This Could Be a Black Mirror Episode: What Are Soulbound Tokens? How To Use the Non-Transferable NFT

Israel's Government and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Preparing to Issue Tokenized Bonds

IRS Expands Key US Tax Language to Include NFTs

Mastercard to Bring Crypto Trading Capabilities to Banks

What Is Private Equity? And How Tokenization May Expand Access to PE

France Approves Its Third-Biggest Bank to Operate Digital Asset Services

South Africa Classifies Crypto Assets as Financial Products

The Only Crypto Story You Need

Hong Kong Plans to Legalize Retail Crypto Trading to Become Hub

EU Puts Bitcoin in Crosshairs With Crypto Energy Labeling Plan

Fidelity to Roll Out Ethereum Trading for Institutions Next Week

Struggling Bitcoin Miners Are Flocking to Maple Finance’s $300M Lending Pool

Select Events

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

Artificial Intelligence & Financial Services Symposium
Our third Artificial Intelligence & Financial Services Symposium resumed on October 27, 2022. As in 2019, we focused on the legal, contractual and regulatory aspects of using AI to deliver financial services. See the List of Topics Covered.

GFM Podcast Series: Understanding FinCEN’s New Beneficial Ownership Information Rule
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently published its final beneficial ownership information rule (the “BOI Rule”). The BOI Rule will have a significant impact on a number of businesses, including those in the commercial real estate and structured finance sectors. In an episode of the Global Financial Markets (“GFM”) podcast, Mayer Brown partners Brad Resnikoff and Matt Bisanz discuss the BOI Rule and how to prepare to come into compliance with it.

Learn the Lingo

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.

Proof of Stake (PoS)

Proof of Stake (“PoS”) is the consensus mechanism (see our July 22 Lingo here) used by numerous blockchains that employs staking (see our June 10 Lingo here) to verify transactions. PoS is a widely used alternative to the Proof of Work consensus mechanism (see our October 14 Lingo here). In a PoS blockchain, “validators” contribute – or “stake” – crypto in exchange for the opportunity to validate new transactions and update the blockchain. The blockchain network selects a “winning” validator for each transaction based on the amount and duration of the crypto each validator has in the pool. Other validators then attest to the validity of the transaction/block, the network updates the blockchain and the participating validators receive a reward in the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency.

Writings on the Wall, Translating ‘Crypto’ Terms with Mayer Brown

From Airdrop to Wrapped Token, our illustrated glossary, “Writings on the Wall, Translating Securities with Mayer Brown,” has been updated with additional digital assets and cryptocurrency terms. Check out our “featured” list for the crypto terms and the full list of terms.