United States: FinTech

Today, scrutiny is no longer confined to public equities markets. In a pair of recent prosecutions, including last week’s indictment of a Google employee, the Department of Justice has made clear that it will pursue insider trading type cases wherever (i) confidential data moves prices, and (ii) a duty-bound actor exploits that data for trading advantage, even outside the securities laws. Prediction markets and crypto platforms appear to be the primary testing ground for this expanded enforcement theory

As cryptocurrency transitions from niche to mainstream with a $4 trillion market cap, cross-border crypto transactions are creating unprecedented tax complexity through inconsistent country-by-country treatment. From income type mismatches and sourcing challenges to valuation volatility and transfer pricing complications, the global tax framework struggles to address digital assets that existing tax treaties were never designed to handle.

On May 5, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed SF 3868 into law, prohibiting virtual currency kiosks in the state. The law repeals Minnesota’s existing virtual currency kiosks regulatory framework...