November 2018 was a busy month for the SEC’s burgeoning regulation of digital assets. In the first action of its kind, the Commission brought enforcement proceedings against the founder of digital asset trading platform EtherDelta for operating as an unregistered securities “exchange.” Ten days later, the Commission announced a pair of settled actions against token issuers for what the SEC concluded were unregistered securities offerings, imposing a remedy that the agency said offers a “path to compliance” for other historical sales of illegal security tokens. Topping off its action, key divisions of the SEC released a joint “Statement on Digital Asset Securities Issuance and Trading,” offering commentary about the agency’s spate of recent actions in the space.

Coincidentally or not, November also saw a dramatic drop in the price of crypto assets—notably including a 37% decrease in the price of Bitcoin and a 40% drop in the price of Ether. 

Writing for Crowdfund Insider, Scott Schirick, co-head of Pryor Cashman's Securities Litigation + Enforcement practice, examines what the SEC's actions mean for token issuers, exchanges and investors, and what we can expect from the SEC going forward.

Click here to read the full article.

More About Schirick's Practice

Scott Schirick co-leads Pryor Cashman's Securities Litigation + Enforcement practice and is a member of the firm's FinTech Group. He counsels blockchain projects and market participants on all aspects of U.S. regulatory strategy and defends companies and individuals in SEC enforcement investigations and proceedings.

Learn more about his work and experience here.