Search results for: blockchain

As reported on the Blockchain Legal Resource, California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Assembly Bill No. 2658 for the purpose of further studying blockchain’s application to Californians. In doing so, California joins a growing list of states officially exploring distributed ledger technology. Continue Reading California Enacts Blockchain Legislation

Recently, the French Data Protection Authority (“CNIL”) published its initial assessment of the compatibility of blockchain technology with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and proposed concrete solutions for organizations wishing to use blockchain technology when implementing data processing activities. Continue Reading CNIL Publishes Initial Assessment on Blockchain and GDPR

When novelist William Gibson said, “[t]he future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed,” he may have had innovation like blockchain technology in mind. In the near future, blockchain may become the new architecture of a reinvented global financial services infrastructure. The technology – a distributed, consensus-driven ledger that enables and records encrypted digital asset transfers without the need of a confirming third party – is revolutionary to global financial services, whose core functions include the trusted intermediary role (e.g., payment processor, broker, dealer, custodian).

Continue Reading Blockchain, Cybersecurity and Global Finance

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On January 26, 2023, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton Andrews Kurth responded to a call for input from the UK’s Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) on its workplan for 2023 – 2024.

Continue Reading CIPL Responds to UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) Workplan 2023 to 2024 Call for Input
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On January 20, 2023, The Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton Andrews Kurth published “Digital Assets and Privacy,” a discussion paper compiling insights from workshops with CIPL member companies that explored the intersection of privacy and digital assets, with a particular focus on blockchain technology. The paper includes recommendations for developing coherent, tech-friendly, future-focused, and pragmatic regulations and policies.

Continue Reading CIPL Publishes Discussion Paper on Digital Assets and Privacy
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On October 18, 2022, the European Commission published a report, titled Information Frictions and Public Policies: Approaching the Regulation and Supervision of Decentralized Finance (“DeFi”) (the “Report”). The Report discusses the need to adapt existing policy frameworks to account for the change brought about by DeFi to the underlying information structure upon which financial services are provided. Unlike traditional finance, DeFi applications provide financial services based on blockchain technology, i.e., without requiring any intermediary agent and instead relying on automated protocols that are encoded in public digital contracts universally accessible and maintained by an open pool of pseudonymous miners.

Continue Reading European Commission Publishes Report on Decentralized Finance

On February 28, 2022, the Emirate of Dubai enacted Law No. 4 of 2022 on the Regulation of Virtual Assets (“VAL”) and established the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (“VARA”). By establishing a legal framework for businesses related to virtual assets, including crypto assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), this landmark law reflects Dubai’s vision to become one of the leading jurisdictions for entrepreneurs and investors of blockchain technology.

Continue Reading Dubai Issues Its First Crypto Law Regulating Virtual Assets

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On March 9, 2022, the Biden Administration released its much-anticipated “Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” (“Executive Order”). The White House describes the Executive Order as the “first whole-of-government strategy” on digital assets and attempts to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and U.S. leadership in the digital asset space, while signaling an appetite to protect against a variety of stated risks through additional regulation and legislation.

Continue Reading President Biden Issues Executive Order on Digital Assets

On January 31, 2022, Hunton Andrews Kurth’s retail industry team released its annual Retail Industry in Review publication, which provides an overview of key issues and trends that impacted the retail sector in the past year, as well as a preview of relevant legal issues retailers can expect to arise in 2022. This year’s edition takes a close look at issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, and addresses the evolving U.S. state privacy law landscape, with a focus on the passage of the Colorado Privacy Act and Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act. The publication also addresses issues regarding e-commerce terms of use and retailers’ use of blockchain technology.