Blockchain Legal Resource

As we begin the new year and reflect on what we learned last year, the Hunton Andrews Kurth Blockchain team would like to provide you with a recap of the top posts we shared throughout 2023. Please visit the links below for these highlights.

On December 12, 2023, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (“CIPL”) released a white paper on Privacy-Enhancing and Privacy-Preserving Technologies: Understanding the Role of PETs and PPTs in the Digital Age.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s AI and Emerging Technologies Newsletter, a resource focused on multidisciplinary, current topics affecting businesses in the industry. Inside, we cover a bit of what you need to know about AI in the context of contract terms and conditions, US privacy laws, insurance, employer use monitoring and workforce management, and copyright law, as well as the rise in crypto class actions. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the authors or others in our AI and Emerging Technologies practice with questions regarding these ...

On October 30, 2023, the G7 leaders announced they had reached agreement on a set of International Guiding Principles on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a voluntary Code of Conduct for AI developers, pursuant to the Hiroshima AI Process. The Hiroshima AI Process was established at the G7 Summit in May 2023 to promote guardrails for advanced AI systems at a global level.

On October 13, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB39, the Digital Financial Assets Law (the Act). The Act provides broad authority to California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (Department) to license, regulate and examine certain businesses transacting in digital financial assets in California.

On October 16, 2023, the SEC’s Division of Examinations released a reporting detailing its 2024 examination priorities. The document lays out the key risks, topics and priorities that the Division plans to focus on during its upcoming cycle of inspections and examinations of broker-dealers, investment advisers and other regulated securities intermediaries. Among the various areas of focus, once again risks related to crypto assets and blockchain will be an examination priority.

On September 18, 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) announced new proposed guidance for BitLicense holders and certain limited-purpose trust companies (“VC entities”) seeking to list virtual currencies on their platforms. The proposed guidance would replace existing DFS procedures and establish new protocols for listing virtual currencies that are not subject to the DFS greenlist.  

The proposed guidance seeks to provide a framework under which VC entities may seek DFS approval to self-certify the listing of new coins. In order to self-certify ...

On August 28, 2023, the SEC settled enforcement charges against a Los Angeles-based media and entertainment company for conducting an unregistered offering of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The case represents the SEC’s first foray into the NFT space.

What Happened: 

As reported in a Hunton Client Alert, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently issued guidance regarding the voluntary self-disclosure by US businesses of violations of US sanctions and export control laws to these agencies (Tri-Seal Compliance Note: Voluntary Self-Disclosure of Potential Violations) (Compliance Note).

As we previously reported in our summary of the Ripple case, a federal district court judged determined that under certain circumstances the offering of a digital asset does not create a security. The reasoning in the Ripple case has been criticized by leading to an outcome that places institutional investors ahead of retail investors and employees. In a separate, recently decided case involving digital assets, another federal district judge has declined to follow the ruling in Ripple.