Commissioner Peirce: "It’s Just Not a Good Way of Regulating”

SEC’s Hester Peirce Says Agency’s Current Approach Is ‘Not a Good Way of Regulating’

“Typically, when we write a rule, we go out with a proposal,” said Peirce. “People are talking to the regulator, we’re talking to the public. It’s a very healthy conversation.”

There’s not much that’s healthy about how the SEC interacted with crypto companies thus far, according to the Commissioner: bringing them in one at a time—not to collaborate on policy, but to dictate the terms of a particular enforcement.

“Nobody else is in the room,” said Peirce. “The customers aren’t in the room. The competitors aren’t in the room. And the regulator has the leverage because the regulator’s about to bring an enforcement action. It’s just not a good way of regulating.”

Senate Republicans want the SEC to explain why staff are quitting

Senate Republicans want the SEC to explain why staff are leaving the nation’s corporate watchdog at the highest rate in 10 years amid a flurry of proposed rules, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Sunday.

The private letter dated Oct. 27 from Senate Republicans to the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, adds to mounting criticism that the U.S. regulator lacks the internal firepower it needs to accomplish its ambitious rulemaking plans.

Corporate Executives Face Personal Liability Exposure for Cyber Incidents

In numerous prior posts I have examined efforts by plaintiffs’ attorneys to try to impose civil liability on corporate executives in D&O claims following cyber security incidents. Two recent cases show that, in addition to potential civil litigation liability exposure, corporate executives may also face potential regulatory liability and even criminal liability exposure for cyber security incidents at their company….

The SEC’s Rules Are Getting Unreal

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s job is to make markets work. But today’s SEC leadership—which as of August had proposed 26 new rules this year alone—is ignoring the real-world effects of its regulations on market participants. Its approach can be described as “regulation by hypothesis.” If not remedied, it will prove disastrous.

White House Convenes Summit for Stopping the Spread of Ransomware

The U.S. White House brought together 36 countries and the EU for its second International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) summit to counter the global spread of ransomware.

Among other initiatives, the CRI plans to establish an International Counter Ransomware Task Force (ICRTF), share technical information about ransomware with a wide range of stakeholders and provide an “investigator’s toolkit” to CRI partners.

Significantly, the CRI also has committed to “take joint steps to stop ransomware actors from being able to use the cryptocurrency ecosystem to garner payment.”…

2022 NFT Litigation Roundup

The emergence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has spawned novel legal and regulatory considerations, spanning intellectual property rights, the potential classification of NFTs as securities, the recovery of assets held on decentralized platforms, and criminal considerations relating to fraud, money laundering, and insider trading. This roundup tracks ongoing civil and criminal actions involving NFTs and the various unique legal issues at play.

These actions provide a glimpse into how NFTs will be integrated into existing legal frameworks, and may provide clarity over legal questions that loom large over companies and individuals in the business of creating or selling NFTs….