Navigating the Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework from U.S. Department of Justice and Regulators Domestically and Abroad

The blockchain and cryptocurrency industry has matured to become an established sector of the U.S. economy, and that growth has garnered increasingly greater attention from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and financial regulators. While some agencies have provided forward-looking guidance, and in October 2020 DOJ issued its Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework, too often the environment in the U.S. has been characterized by “regulation through enforcement,” where innovators and their .. continue reading counsel are forced to read between the lines of criminal indictments, enforcement actions, congressional testimony, and regulators’ speeches for signs of boundaries of compliant conduct. The regulatory complexity in the U.S. has led many new and existing ventures to operate overseas and to stop servicing the U.S. market. For these companies, locating – or relocating – outside the U.S. allows them to develop compliant businesses in more readily navigable regulatory environments. But as the DOJ Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework makes clear, being out of the U.S. market does not mean being out of reach of U.S. regulation –the long arm of U.S. jurisdiction is very long. This webinar will provide innovators, both inside and outside the U.S., an overview of U.S. regulatory requirements they must be aware of, and how innovation interacts with U.S. legal jurisdiction. Alan Cohn counsels clients on a range of blockchain- and cryptocurrency-related issues, from regulatory best practices for cryptocurrency companies to legal issues associated with novel uses of blockchain technology.