As discussed in our previous post, the Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal (TMF) had provided clarity in the application of the “investment contract” criteria, first enunciated in Pacific Coast Coin Exchange v. Ontario Securities Commission and codified under article 1 of the Quebec Securities Act, CQLR c V-1.1 (QSA), by finding that PlexCorps’ project was an … Continue reading
On February 15, 2019, the Ontario Securities Commission issued a decision in which it refused to issue a receipt for a prospectus filing made by 3iQ Corp. (3iQ) in respect of The Bitcoin Fund (the Fund). The decision highlights the challenges faced by issuers seeking to do business in cryptocurrency markets, which regulators continue to … Continue reading
The legal noose is tightening around the necks of rogue cryptocurrency issuers in Quebec. PlexCorps’s legal troubles, as covered in our previous post, have deepened. In Autorité des marchés financiers c. PlexCorps, 2018 QCTMF 91, the Tribunal des Marchés Financier (TMF) qualified PlexCoin as an investment contract within the meaning of Quebec’s Securities Act. This … Continue reading
On March 6, 2018, in a fraud proceeding involving a virtual currency product, a New York federal court held that virtual currencies can be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as commodities. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. McDonnell (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 6, 2018).[1] This ruling marks the first federal judicial endorsement of the CFTC’s … Continue reading
2017 has been an extraordinary year for cryptocurrencies.[1] The recent increase in the number of cryptocurrency offerings reflects a dramatic shift in investor-attitudes towards the crypto-economy. However, the increased popularity of initial coin offerings (ICO), initial token offerings (ITO) and cryptocurrency investment funds has triggered a wave of regulatory responses, from the USA to Singapore … Continue reading
On July 25, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement on the regulatory significance of offers and sales of digital assets carried out using distributed ledger or blockchain technology. That statement followed the SEC’s Report of Investigation into The DAO, an unincorporated organization designed to issue tokens administered on a distributed ledger … Continue reading