On September 14, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a settled securities fraud action against App Annie Inc., one of the largest sellers of market data on how apps on mobile devices are performing, and its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt. The settlement is the
SEC enforcement
WSJ Article on Geolocation Data Highlights Risks for Fund Managers
Last week the WSJ published an article detailing how companies are monetizing smartphone location data by selling it to hedge fund clients. The data vendor featured in the WSJ article obtains geolocation data from about 1,000 apps that fund managers use to predict trends involving public companies. However, as we’ve…
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s Remarks on ICOs
In his remarks at a recent Practicing Law Institute program on securities regulation, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton once again addressed Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs. Mr. Clayton highlighted several issues in particular, including that in his view there is a lack of information about many online platforms that list and trade virtual coins or tokens offered and sold in ICOs, and that trading of tokens on these platforms is susceptible to price manipulation and other fraudulent trading practices.
SEC on Initial Coin Offerings: Tokens May Be Securities
No blockchain phenomenon has garnered more attention lately than Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”), which have exploded in value and raised more than $1.2 billion thus far this year.
In a typical ICO, a blockchain-based product or service provider offers proprietary digital assets (“tokens”) – rather than traditional forms of debt…