Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and cryptocurrency have been a hot topic this summer.  DLT has begun its transition from a proof-of-concept phase, to a real world deployment. Some of the changes over the last six weeks include: Bitcoin splitting into two currencies; the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and the Monetary

Digital tokens are now being incorporated into federal and state regulatory regimes.  Over the past two weeks, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has suspended the trading of company securities of three publicly-traded blockchain-related companies The first company to be suspended was CIAO Group, Inc. (“CIAU”) due to questions regarding the accuracy of statements pertaining

On Monday, November 14, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hosted a forum to discuss financial technology (FinTech) innovation in the financial services industry. The summit discussed several topics, but the second panel, titled “Impact of Recent Innovation on Trading, Settlement, and Clearance Activities,” specifically addressed blockchain-enabled distributed ledger technology and its applicability in corporate environments. The panel provided an opportunity for the SEC to highlight blockchain’s potential for assisting companies in meeting compliance requirements, cutting costs with respect to record keeping and tracking assets, and disintermediating transactions.

Corporations have begun to seriously examine the opportunities made available by blockchain-enabled distributed ledger technology beyond digital currency, in areas ranging from financial services and retail supply chains to art and music. Unlike Bitcoin, where the blockchain provides a transfer mechanism and ledger for the intangible currency, digital ledger technology also may provide a distributed, often a privately managed system of records for a wide variety of transactions.
Continue Reading Leveraging the Blockchain to Provide an Unalterable, Distributed Ledger for Transactions, Supply Chains and Other Corporate Processes

Cybersecurity and the risks of data breaches figured prominently at the 35th Annual Ray Garrett Corporate and Securities Law Institute held April 30, 2015, at Northwestern Law School in Chicago. Participating in a panel addressing Cybersecurity and Data Breach: The New Reality for Directors and Those Who Advise Them, Reed Smith partner Mark Melodia and several other panelists engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of effective board oversight of cybersecurity challenges facing their companies. Notably, this was the first time that cybersecurity issues were the sole focus of a Garrett Institute panel.

During his remarks, Mark stressed that boards must be engaged in oversight of a company’s cybersecurity enterprise risk management, as well as crisis management. In a widely publicized June 2014 speech given by Securities and Exchange Commissioner (SEC) Luis Aguilar, the commissioner threw down the gauntlet to directors of public companies, telling them that they needed to become active participants in overseeing their companies’ cybersecurity planning and preparation. As he put it, “directors should take seriously their obligation to make sure that companies are appropriately addressing [cyber risks].”

Continue Reading Cybersecurity Oversight: What is a Board of Directors to Do?