Blockchain Legal Resource

SEC Staff Issues Statement on Covered User Interfaces

Scott H. Kimpel — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:00:01 -0400

On April 13, 2026, staff in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Trading and Markets issued a Staff Statement Regarding Broker-Dealer Registration of Certain User Interfaces Utilized to Prepare Transactions in Crypto Asset Securities. Absent further action by the SEC, the statement will be considered withdrawn five years from the date of issuance.

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SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance on Crypto Assets

Scott H. Kimpel — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:00:02 -0400

On March 17, 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the release of interpretive guidance (Guidance) seeking to clarify the application of the federal securities laws to various categories of crypto assets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also joined the guidance to assure market participants it would interpret the Commodity Exchange Act in a consistent fashion.

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Treasury Issues Report on Innovative Technologies to Counter Illicit Finance Involving Digital Assets

Scott H. Kimpel — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:00:03 -0400

On March 6, 2026, the Treasury Department published a report to Congress entitled “Innovative Technologies to Counter Illicit Finance Involving Digital Assets.” Required under the GENIUS Act, the report evaluates how financial institutions can use new technologies to detect and prevent illicit finance involving digital assets, and recommends regulatory and policy actions.

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OCC Proposes Stablecoin Rules

Scott H. Kimpel — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:00:04 -0500

On February 25, 2026, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), published draft regulations for payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. The proposed rules focus on stablecoin activities of entities that the OCC will supervise under the GENIUS Act, including stablecoin issuers that are owned or chartered as national banks, as well as certain federally licensed nonbanks and foreign stablecoin issuers operating in the US.

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SEC Staff Publishes Statement on Tokenized Securities

Scott H. Kimpel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 09:00:05 -0500

On January 28, 2026, staff at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a Statement on Tokenized Securities. The Statement describes different categories of tokenized securities of interest to the SEC staff and includes technical descriptions of each category.

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Senate Releases Crypto Market Structure Bills

Scott H. Kimpel — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 09:00:06 -0500

In mid-January 2026, key Senate committees published discussion drafts of market structure legislation for comprehensive federal regulation of digital assets. The Senate Banking Committee’s version of the bill is called the “Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.” The Senate Agriculture Committee’s version of the bill is called the “Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act.”

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SEC Authorizes Pilot Program for Tokenized Securities Trading

Scott H. Kimpel — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 09:00:07 -0500

In a recent social media post and television interview, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins announced that US capital markets are "poised to move on-chain.” At the same time, on December 11, 2025, the SEC staff issued a no-action letter to a prominent registered clearing agency and securities depositary to launch a securities tokenization pilot program. The pilot program will allow participants to transfer tokenized securities to registered wallets of other participants.

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Crypto Heads to Y’all Street

Scott H. Kimpel — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:00:08 -0500

A prominent cryptocurrency exchange’s recent announcement that it had reincorporated from Delaware to Texas has created a buzz among publicly traded digital asset businesses. The move follows an invitation from Texas Governor Greg Abbott to come to “Y’all Street” and a series of recent legislative developments in Texas to modernize the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC) to make Texas more attractive as a place to incorporate. In this article we summarize some changes in the laws governing Texas business entities resulting from the recently completed session of the Texas Legislature.

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Senate Ag Committee Releases Bipartisan Crypto Market Legislation

Scott H. Kimpel — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 09:00:09 -0500

On November 10, 2025, Chairman John Boozman (R-MT) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee released a discussion draft of legislation regulating crypto markets in the United States. The draft is similar in several ways to the Clarity Act, which the House of Representatives passed in July 2025.

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SEC Staff Provides Guidance on Crypto Custody

Scott H. Kimpel — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 09:00:10 -0400

On September 29, 2025, staff in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management issued no-action relief for certain crypto asset custodians. Specifically, the relief will, under certain circumstances, allow SEC-registered investment advisers (Registered Advisers), registered investment companies and business development companies (collectively, Regulated Funds) to treat a state-chartered trust company as a “bank” (for custody purposes) with respect to crypto assets and related cash or cash equivalents, without fear of enforcement under the SEC’s custody rules.

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