Welcome to Shearman & Sterling’s FinTech Blog, where we provide you with insight on key trends in the FinTech ecosystem. Here you can find relevant information with the latest on digital banking, FinTech regulation, digital assets, blockchain, AI, and more.
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LabCFTC Publishes Smart Contract Primer
11/29/2018LabCFTC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) FinTech initiative, earlier this week published a primer on smart contracts. The primer defines smart contracts and explains some of their key attributes, discusses the CFTC’s role in regulating smart contracts, outlines some potential benefits and use cases and warns market participants of potential associated risks.
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Three Central Banks Explore Advantages Of Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies
11/27/2018On November 15, 2018, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Monetary Authority of Singapore published a joint report entitled, "Cross-Border Interbank Payments and Settlements." Referring to current industry projects to address existing problems in cross-border payments affecting end-users, commercial banks and central banks, the report analyzes these issues and discusses proposed new models for processing cross-border transactions. The report sets out three models for cross-border payments and settlements and discusses the key considerations and dependencies of each model. Each model is then assessed against the existing identified challenges in cross-border payments.
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UK Crypto-Assets Task Force Outlines the Path to Crypto-Asset Regulation
11/06/2018The U.K. Crypto-Assets Task Force has published its Final Report. Established in March 2018 by the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer as part of the U.K. government's FinTech Sector Strategy, the Task Force comprises representatives from HM Treasury, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England.
The Task Force engaged with over 60 firms and other stakeholders to seek their views on topics including: the trajectory of the industry, the risks, benefits and underlying economic value of crypto-assets and the U.K.’s future regulatory approach. Stakeholders were of the view that there is a lack of regulatory clarity in the U.K. and that regulation should be introduced to support the legitimate players in the crypto-assets market. It is also crucial in mitigating risks. There were also calls for regulatory and tax frameworks to be aligned.
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Government of Gibraltar Publishes Outline of Forthcoming Token Regulatory Framework
03/14/2018On March 14, 2018, the Government of Gibraltar published a white paper outlining forthcoming proposals to regulate token sales, secondary token market platforms and token investment services.
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Securities on Blockchain
Winter 2017/2018Reade Ryan contributed to an article, titled “Securities on Blockchain,” published in the Winter 2017-2018 edition of The Business Lawyer, which analyzes how blockchain securities fit within current laws covering uncertificated securities, and also provides guidance to corporate lawyers faced with providing a legal opinion related to the issuance of securities on a blockchain.
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