“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.” Such was the lament of John Ray, the legendary restructuring executive tasked with the unenviable assignment of serving as the caretaker CEO of bankrupt FTX Trading Ltd. As the criminal and civil cases by the DOJ, SEC and CFTC against FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried play out in the courts, what does the “complete failure of corporate controls” at FTX teach us about corporate governance, unchecked founder control and the importance of proper oversight?Continue Reading FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried and the Risk of Unchecked Founder Control
cryptocurrency
Crypto Reform Goes to Congress: Proposed Three-Year Safe Harbor for Distribution of Pre-“Network Maturity” Digital Tokens
Background: Crypto Catch 22
Followers of the SEC’s efforts to regulate digital tokens will recall former SEC Corp Fin Director William Hinman’s speech at the June 14, 2018 Yahoo Finance Conference in which he introduced the now generally accepted proposition that a digital asset could originally be deemed a security while its network is being…
First Ever SEC Registered Digital Token IPO May Bring Clarity to Blockchain Asset Industry
On May 3, 2021, blockchain-based trading platform operator INX Ltd. announced it had completed its initial public offering of digital tokens, raising approximately $85 million in the IPO from over 7,200 institutional and retail investors. The INX IPO is the first SEC registered offering of digital tokens, and represents another major milestone for blockchain asset…
SEC vs. Ripple Could Make Waves in Cryptocurrency Market
On December 2, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives alleging they offered and sold over $1.38 billion of digital asset XRP without registration or exemption in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. Ripple filed an…