Category Archives: SEC

Key Takeaways:

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) have brought the first-ever insider trading actions involving cryptocurrency against a former manager of Coinbase, one of the largest U.S. crypto asset trading platforms, and two tippees for sharing or trading upon confidential information relating to the planned listing of various cryptocurrencies on Coinbase.
• The SEC’s securities fraud charges are based on its longstanding position that certain cryptocurrencies are investment contracts and therefore “securities” subject to the SEC’s jurisdiction.…

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Editors’ Note:  This is the fifth in our third annual series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity during the new year.  Our previous entries were on emerging threats, state law trends, comparing the GDPR with COPPA, and energy and security.  Up next:  political advertising.

In our 2018 SEC year in preview post,… More

We posted earlier this year about increased scrutiny of cryptocurrency advertising, especially the promotion of Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs.  The key takeaway from that post was that the frenzy around cryptocurrencies – including as an investment opportunity for individuals who aren’t otherwise active investors – has led to a number of efforts to curtail cryptocurrency promotion, from both regulators and industry stakeholders.… More

Perhaps in the spirit of the saying “if you can’t beat them, join them,” the Securities and Exchange Commission recently launched an initial coin offering website of its own – HoweyCoins.com.  No, the SEC has not suddenly decided to join the coin offering craze.  But the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy has launched this new mock site to illustrate the dangers of such offerings to retail investors. … More

As the SEC has made clear on numerous occasions over the past year, cybersecurity will continue to be a major enforcement priority under the Commission’s new leadership.  As we have previously covered, one new area of potential enforcement activity that the SEC has warned about concerns the failure of public companies to make disclosures regarding material cyber events.  While the SEC had previously provided some guidance to publicly traded companies about when to disclose such events,… More