This article was originally published on Law360 and is republished here with permission as it originally appeared on January 22, 2026.
Since the change in administration last year, much has changed in the payments law landscape. Federal regulators have been busy rescinding agency guidance, advisory opinions, interpretive rules and policy statements.
On October 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (the Division) released its 2024 Examination Priorities report. The report highlights that future examinations will focus on “risk areas impacting various market participants,” emphasizing risks posed by products and services: (1) related to cryptocurrency; and (2) that leverage emerging technology. In addition, the report indicates that examinations will focus on market participants’ compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.
On April 28, bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation, allowing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to oversee cryptocurrency spot markets. The legislation intends to create a framework to fill the regulatory gaps between the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) digital asset marketplace and related regimes.
On May 4, following in the footsteps of President Biden’s recent executive order (Federal EO), California Governor Gavin Newsom issued his own blockchain-related executive order (CA EO), making California the first among the states to endorse a proactive, harmonized approach to regulate blockchain technology. The CA EO assesses how existing state and public institutions may
On April 28, the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (the J5), a global joint operational taxation group consisting of Australia, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States, issued an intelligence bulletin (Bulletin), enumerating its perceived dangers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
NFTs, ERC-20, and Fungibility
Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are similar in the sense that
On May 4, the Connecticut Banking Commissioner issued a temporary order to cease and desist and order to make restitution against lead generator SoLo Funds Inc. (SoLo) for allegedly engaging in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices (UDAAPs) in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, as well as for operating in
On April 6, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) released a draft of his proposed stablecoin legislation titled, Stablecoin Transparency of Reserves and Uniform Safe Transactions Act, or the Stablecoin TRUST Act. Toomey, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, has been a vocal proponent of blockchain innovation, and his recent bill calls for a deft
On March 31, a New York federal court dismissed a proposed securities class-action lawsuit filed against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The lawsuit, one of a host of similar actions brought against cryptocurrency exchanges in 2020, was filed by token buyers who purchased cryptocurrency on Binance’s platform.
The plaintiffs asserted that Binance had violated
On April 7, in front of American University’s Kogod School of Business Center for Innovation, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen addressed the Biden administration’s forthcoming legislative approach to digital assets, as we discussed here, as well as the digitization of the American economy, which Yellen assessed through the lens of five lessons she
On March 17, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act (Act) in an attempt to ensure blacklisted Russian individuals and businesses do not use cryptocurrency to evade economic sanctions.
“In order for the sanctions levied by the United States and