By: Daniel Knight and Kithmin Ranamukhaarachchi The Australian Attorney-General’s Department (Department) has released five consultation papers outlining proposals for extensive reforms to Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime. This post (the second in our series) considers the Department’s proposals related to digital currency service providers, as outlined in Paper 4: Further information for digital currency exchange providers (DCEPs), remittance service providers and financial institutions (Paper 4) (see here). Capturing All Digital Currency-rela ..read more

By: Daniel Knight and Kithmin Ranamukhaarachchi The Australian Attorney-General’s Department (Department) has released five papers outlining proposals for extensive reforms to Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime. This post is the first in a series of posts about these reforms. We start with proposals impacting remittance service providers, as outlined in Paper 4: Further information for digital currency exchange providers (DCEPs), remittance service providers and financial institutions (Paper 4) (see here). The application of the definition of “de ..read more

By: Jeremy McLaughlin and Chelsie Rimel The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a new report spotlighting common consumer complaints for credit card rewards programs. The Bureau and its Director, Rohit Chopra, have been focused on payments oversight, including by proposing a rule last Fall that would apply to nonbank entities that provide digital wallets. The new report discusses the relationship between consumers and the providers of reward programs, and it stresses the need for fairness and transparency. Rewards programs have grown in popularity in r ..read more

By: Jeremy McLaughlin and Joshua Durham Based on a new statement of policy (“Statement”) issued on 20 April 2024 by Pennsylvania’s Department of Banking and Securities (“Department”), effective 15 October 2024, the Department will include virtual currency in the definition of “money” for purposes of the state’s money transmission law (“Law”). Previously, in January 2019, the Department had issued guidance concluding the opposite, that only fiat currency constituted “money” under the Law. The Department’s about-face follows other state regulators that have increasingly concluded that virtual cu ..read more

By: Dan Knight and Ben Kneebush On 12 March 2024, the Australian Treasury released for consultation an exposure draft legislative package that proposes to amend the current regulatory framework to regulate low cost credit contracts (LCCCs), including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) arrangements and other types of credit contracts. These changes are designed to be flexible, adaptable and proportionate to the risk of consumer harm. The package includes the draft bill and is accompanied by various explanatory materials. Together, the exposure draft legislative package: Brings LCCCs Into the Existing Re ..read more

By: Jay Lee and Anson Chan Earlier this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. In Hong Kong, in view of rapid developments of virtual asset (VA) products and growing investment products offering exposure to VAs, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular, on 22 December 2023, detailing requirements for investment funds with exposure of more than 10% of net asset value (NAV) to VA seeking authorization for public offerings in Hong Kong (Circular). The Circular expands the range of “retail VA products” substantially and supersedes a circ ..read more

By: Jay Lee and Beatrice Wun On 2 November 2023, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular addressing the participation of intermediaries in tokenized securities-related activities (the Circular). The move was timely, as we are seeing a growing interest among financial institutions in tokenizing traditional financial instruments in global financial markets. The Circular supersedes the SFC’s 2019 Statement on Security Token Offerings (2019 Statement) and clarifies the meaning of tokenized and digital securities. Meaning of Tokenized Securities under the Circular Toke ..read more

By: Jeremy McLaughlin and Josh Durham The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) is requesting comments on potential rules it will promulgate to implement the state’s recently-enacted Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL), which establishes a formal licensing regime for digital asset service providers. Please review our client alert for a detailed analysis of the new law, which takes effect 1 July 2025. DFPI is considering rules on the license application, licensure requirements, and stablecoin approval. In particular, DFPI is requesting comments on issues such as va ..read more

By: Jay Lee and Natalie Chow The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) will now allow tokenized authorized investment products to be offered to retail investors. Recognizing the growing interest in the tokenization of investment products in Hong Kong, on 2 November 2023, the SFC issued a circular outlining the public offering scheme and requirements of tokenized authorized investment products under the Securities and Futures Ordinance for primary dealings. However, secondary trading of such tokenized investment products is not allowed yet. The public offering scheme is subject t ..read more

By: Nicolet-Serra and Josh Durham Singapore has just become the 48th nation (joining the US) to begin implementing the international Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which is intended to standardize the automatic exchange of personal financial information between countries and to reduce tax evasion by those engaging in  cryptocurrency transactions. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development provided the framework for CARF in August 2022, which defined “Crypto-Assets” and key intermediaries and other service providers that will be subject to reporting. Under the fram ..read more