Regulation

What is the Howey test? The Howey test is a legal test used in the United States to determine whether a transaction qualifies as an investment contract and, thus, is considered a security under federal law. The test was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. (1946), and it has

Representatives from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve will be testifying before the United States House Financial Services Commission in a newly announced hearing investigating the collapse of two major banks. In a March 17 notice, Representatives Maxine Waters and Patrick McHenry — the ranking member and chair of the committee, respectively —

Institutional cryptocurrency custodian Protego’s conditional national trust banking charter has expired without it receiving permanent approval, according to a report in Fortune on March 17. Protego failed to meet pre-conversion requirements, the magazine reported. A spokesperson for the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) told Fortune that the firm did not

Troubled SVB Financial Group has filed a voluntary petition for a court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court to preserve value. Announcing the news on March 17, SVB said that the funds of its venture capital arm SVB Capital and the broker-dealer SVB Securities, as well as funds of general partner

Michael Bennet, a United States senator representing the state of Colorado, has suggested that banks associated with crypto firms did not make “prudentially sound” decisions. Speaking at a March 16 hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Bennet brought up the recent closure of the crypto-friendly Signature Bank with lawmakers and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in

The Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Orca will block all United States users from trading using its web interface beginning March 31, according to a March 16 notice posted to its official website.  The exchange did over $634 million worth of trading volume in February and has over $46 million total value locked in Solana smart

European lawmakers are moving forward with the introduction of a European Union-wide digital wallet by passing a plenary vote on moving the initiative to interinstitutional negotiations. The European Parliament on March 15 voted in favor of negotiating a mandate for talks with the EU member states on the revision of the new European Digital Identity

The United States Federal Reserve has confirmed a July launch date for its long-awaited instant payments system, seen by some as an alternative to central bank digital currencies and stablecoins. The instant payment network will settle payments in seconds and can support transactions between consumers, merchants and banks. It does not rely on blockchain technology.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the more prominent anti-crypto voices in the United States Congress, has called on Jerome Powell to recuse himself amid an internal probe at the Federal Reserve. Speaking to reporters in Washington D.C. on March 15, Warren said Powell had led “the de-regulatory movement” at the Fed potentially touching upon

United States officials want to remove a provision included in bankrupt lender Voyager Digital’s plan to sell its digital assets to crypto exchange Binance.US that would prevent them from legally pursuing anyone involved with the sale.  In a motion filed on March 14 in a New York bankruptcy court, U.S. trustee William Harrington and other

Crypto bank Anchorage Digital announced it would be letting go of 75 employees, representing approximately 20% of its workforce, citing regulatory uncertainty in the United States as a factor in its decision. In a March 14 statement Anchorage labeled the layoffs as “a strategic realignment to better focus our resources,” and pointed to “broad macroeconomic challenges,

The European Parliament passed the Data Act on March 14. The comprehensive bill was intended to “boost innovation by removing barriers obstructing access to industrial data.” Among its provisions is an article that would require smart contracts to be alterable.  The legislation established rules for fairly sharing data generated by “connected products or related services,”

Governor Mark Gordon of the United States state of Wyoming recently signed a bill preventing the forced disclosure of private keys in a move to protect the privacy of digital asset owners. The incoming law reads, “No person shall be compelled to produce a private key or make a private key known to any other

The United States should lead the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) away from being “surveillance coins” and toward being “freedom coins,” says the former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In a March 13 op-ed in The Hill, Christopher Giancarlo said that the U.S. “must influence” CBDC development toward protecting “democratic values like

Last week, another major quake shook crypto markets. Silvergate Bank — a crypto-fiat gateway network for financial institutions and a significant on-ramp for cryptocurrencies in the United States — shut down operations due to liquidity problems.  A couple of days later, another ​​Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured institution, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), was shut down by

The broader cryptocurrency community continues to debate the ongoing fallout following the closure of three major American banks, with calls for neobank services for the industry on the cards. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which has traditionally served startups across several innovation sector industries, was shuttered by California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on March

The United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) started an auction process the night of March 11 for Silicon Valley Bank, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. Bids were to be only open for just a few hours before the process closes on March 12.  According to Bloomberg’s sources, the FDIC is seeking a buyer for

United States authorities are working on “material action” over the weekend in an attempt to limit the ripple effect across the country’s banking system after the Silicon Valley Bank abruptly collapsed on March 10. According to a Reuters report citing unnamed sources, officials in the Joe Biden administration assessed the impact of the bank failure

Billionaire Bill Ackman has urged the United States government to “guarantee” all deposits held by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) within the next “48 hours,” or it risks the “destruction” of many financial institutions. In a March 11 tweet, Bill Ackman, CEO of hedge fund management firm Pershing Square Capital Management, said a “giant sucking sound”

The Bank of England (BoE) has halted the operations of Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. branch (SVB UK), stating that it has a “limited presence” in the United Kingdom (UK) and no “critical functions” supporting the financial system. BoE issued a statement on Mar. 10, declaring that SVB UK will “stop making payments or accepting deposits,”