The staff of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a statement explaining how non-custodial crypto wallet providers may offer services and receive fees without broker-dealer registration.
Virtual Currencies, Digital Assets & the Law
Rebecca G. DiStefano is a member of the firm’s Global Corporate Practice and Global Securities Practice with deep experience in capital formation matters and securities compliance. She counsels clients in a diverse range of corporate securities, corporate governance and regulatory matters at every stage of the corporate life cycle from the emerging growth phase to mature companies evaluating exits.
Ms. DiStefano has wide-ranging experience guiding the executive suite at the intersection of capital formation and securities regulatory matters analyzing a range of finance options to help clients pursue their objectives. Ms. DiStefano’s public and private company clients span a variety of industries including real estate, hospitality, financial services, life sciences, energy, manufacturing, fintech and blockchain technology, and resources. She guides firm clients in financing activities such as early seed, angel and venture capital rounds, community investing, liquidity, bridge and growth capital, and including Regulation D Private Placements, Regulation A Qualifications, Regulation CF Crowdfunding, Registrations, as well as attendant continuing disclosure requirements, periodic reporting and corporate governance matters.
Ms. DiStefano’s clients are often private companies preparing to become public companies or planning for a significant growth phase. She regularly represents clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission and state securities agencies. She has served on the firm’s interdisciplinary Blockchain Task Force since 2017.
The staff of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a statement explaining how non-custodial crypto wallet providers may offer services and receive fees without broker-dealer registration.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff issued a joint statement on Jan. 28, 2026, providing greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to the category of crypto assets commonly referred to as tokenized securities.…
Continue Reading SEC Issues Guidance on Applying Federal Securities Laws to Tokenized Securities
Most meme coins are not securities, and their offer and sale will not need to be registered or require an exemption from registration, SEC staff said in a clarifying statement on Feb. 27, 2025. …
Continue Reading SEC Clarifies Stance: Most Meme Coins Not Subject to Securities Regulation
This practice note covers recent market trends in distributed ledger/Blockchain capital funding and regulation. It focuses on the legal framework for capital formation using distributed ledger/Blockchain technology to enable offerings…
Continue Reading Market Trends 2019/20: Blockchain Security Token Offerings (STOs) – Regulations, Risks, Opportunities, and Potential for Riches
Gibraltar-based INX Ltd. (the Company) launched its U.S. initial public offering of INX security tokens (INX Tokens) on August 20, 2020, over two years after the July 2018 confidential filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of its initial draft registration statement on Form F-1. The INX registration marks the first registered offering of security tokens declared effective by the Commission. Prior to INX, at least two other issuers successfully qualified security token offerings with the Commission under the Regulation A, Tier 2 offering exemption. The 130,000,000 INX Tokens are being offered directly to the public in a self-underwritten offering by officers and directors of the Company, with minimum investment requirements to participate.
Continue Reading Gibraltar-Based INX Ltd. Launches SEC-Registered Security Token IPO
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on Feb. 6, 2020, delivered a thought-provoking speech entitled Running on Empty: A Proposal to Fill the Gap Between Regulation and Decentralization, accompanied by a…
Continue Reading Where Do We Go from Here? Filling the Gap Between Telegram and the Proposed Rule 195 Token Safe Harbor
New York Superintendent of Financial Services Linda A. Lacewell announced on Sept. 5, 2019 that the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has authorized Paxos Trust Company LLC…
Continue Reading First Gold-Backed Virtual Currency in New York Approved
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert in January that urged investors to use caution before investing in “so-called initial exchange…
Continue Reading SEC Issues Investor Alert on Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs)