Insights

London – October 4, 2023: Crowell & Moring U.K. LLP has been recommended in four practice areas in the Legal 500 United Kingdom 2024. In addition, partner Andrew Knight has been named as a leading individual for asset based lending. The firm’s full rankings can be viewed here.

New York – September 23, 2020: The New York Law Journal has named partner Michelle Ann Gitlitz, global head of Crowell & Moring’s Blockchain and Digital Assets practice, to its 2020 list of New York Trailblazers. The feature recognizes New York lawyers who have made significant marks on the practice, policy, and technological advancement of their practices.

On March 9, 2022, President Biden issued the long-awaited Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets (the “EO”) expressing a U.S. strategy for the development and regulation of digital assets[1] and a potential U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency[2] (“CBDC”). Possibly accelerated in part by the desire to address potential Russian sanctions evasion,[3] the EO mandates numerous reports by several federal agencies to facilitate policy and legislative development in this area. 

On March 30, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (the “Division”) announced its 2022 Examination Priorities (the “Priorities”), including several significant areas of focus and many perennial risk areas. Under the Priorities, the Division will focus on the following topics and issues: private funds, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, retail investor protections, information security and operational resiliency, emerging technologies, and crypto-assets. 

On November 1, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (“PWG”), joined by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), issued its long-awaited Report on Stablecoins (“Report”). The Report comes months after the PWG’s July 2021 meeting to discuss interagency work on stablecoins and preparation of the Report. The Report includes (1) a high-level background on stablecoins,1 (2) a description of potential risks associated with stablecoins, and (3) recommendations to Congress for legislation or, absent such action, descriptions of potential regulatory actions.