Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examination has been visiting firms that have been involved in digital assets. The Division published a Risk Alert that you should read if your firm has digital assets in client accounts. Right off the bat, the risk alert hedges on its definition of “digital assets” to say that … Read more »
In a completely unsurprising statement, a high-ranking official at the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Bitcoins are not securities. William Hinman, Director, Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC, gave detailed speech on cryptocurrency. When we see that kind of economic transaction, it is easy to apply the Supreme Court’s “investment contract” test first … Read more »
When Bitcoin was rapidly increasing in value, there were lots of people looking to invest in that space. The SEC has repeatedly raised concerns about fund sponsors creating a fund or ETF focused on cryptocurrency. In a letter to the Investment Company Institute and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the SEC said don’t even think … Read more »
Cryptocurrency is a lawless land. Ten days ago, the Securities Exchange Commission and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission issued a joint statement on virtual currency: “When market participants engage in fraud under the guise of offering digital instruments – whether characterized as virtual currencies, coins, tokens, or the like – the SEC and the … Read more »
With the pending release of Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, I’m joining Tom Fox in tying compliance and the Star Wars franchise together in some posts this week. Star Wars is about the rise of the evil galactic empire and the rebels who fight against it. I think some Bitcoin advocates are trying to be the … Read more »
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co, speaking at a bank investor conference said Bitcoin “is a fraud” and will blow up. Further, that if any JPMorgan traders were trading the crypto-currency, “I would fire them in a second, for two reasons: It is against our rules and they are stupid, and both … Read more »
Regulators have been trying to figure out what to do with the new currencies coming to the marketplace. Bitcoin was the vanguard, bringing its blockchain technology into the public’s view. The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a Report of Investigation that provides some insight into when these currencies and their rollouts are going to violate securities … Read more »
I’ve said before that BitCoin is the Dutch Tulips of investments. The blockchain approach to recordkeeping is an interesting use of decentralized computed power for recordkeeping, but BitCoin units are less interesting. The main users are less than scrupulous users looking for ways to avoid things like anti-money laundering rules. Many bankers/traders see BitCoin as a way … Read more »
Bitcoin has been the Dutch Tulips of investment for a few years. So of course that means the fraudsters have latched on. The Securities and Exchange Commission has piled on and issued an Investor Alert: Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currency-Related Investments. This is the second investor alert from the SEC on Bitcoin. The first was … Read more »
You may have noticed that I focus on SEC actions against real estate companies. At the core of that interest is a look at whether the Securities and Exchange Commission has jurisdiction. The SEC is limited to securities. Commodities get covered by the CFTC and real estate gets covered by ….. Bruce Carton pointed to … Read more »