Crypto-Enforcement Around the World

94 Southern California Law Review Postscript 99 (2021)

29 Pages Posted: 2 Dec 2020 Last revised: 1 Jun 2021

See all articles by Yuliya Guseva

Yuliya Guseva

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Rutgers Law School

Douglas Eakeley

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Rutgers Law School

Date Written: December 7, 2020

Abstract

The blockchain revolution in capital and financial markets attracted the attention of enforcement agencies in many jurisdictions. This Article elaborates the results of an international enforcement survey of the Blockchain and Fintech Research Program of the Rutgers Center for Corporate Law and Governance. It provides a detailed analysis of enforcement in major crypto-market jurisdictions. The data suggest that, despite an extended network of agreements facilitating international cooperation, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) maintains its historically active enforcement posture. The SEC brings more enforcement actions against cryptoasset issuers, broker-dealers, crypto-exchanges, and other digital-asset market participants than most other major crypto-jurisdictions, as well as the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission. SEC enforcement results in considerably more serious penalties.

Our data raise theoretical questions on regulation via enforcement, its effect on financial innovations, and regulatory competition. The U.S. does not have a separate regulation designed for the decentralized ledger technology industry and related financial markets, which effectively creates a pure regulation via enforcement environment. To the extent that the U.S. agencies pursue actions not only against domestic companies but also foreign firms, which raise only part of their capital from United States investors, their actions impact global crypto-markets and raise regulatory competition concerns.

Keywords: blockchain, cryptoassets, digital assets, virtual assets, enforcement, commodity regulation, securities regulation, comparative law, international, capital markets, financial regulators

Suggested Citation

Guseva, Yuliya and Eakeley, Douglas, Crypto-Enforcement Around the World (December 7, 2020). 94 Southern California Law Review Postscript 99 (2021), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3713198

Yuliya Guseva (Contact Author)

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Rutgers Law School ( email )

Newark, NJ
United States

Douglas Eakeley

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Rutgers Law School ( email )

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