Inside FinTech blog

On 13 March 2024, the European Commission adopted:

Commission Delegated Regulation supplementing the Regulation on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA) with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying the criteria for the classification of ICT-related incidents and cyber threats, setting out materiality thresholds and specifying the details of reports of major incidents.

When talking about digital assets, how much is saying too much? How much is saying too little? Did what you say ultimately matter? Recent court decisions arising from the purchase and sale of digital assets have grappled with liability claims posing such questions about information that had been stated or omitted.

In a notable victory for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its closely-watched enforcement action against Coinbase over its crypto-assets activities, a New York federal court on March 27, 2024, rejected nearly all of Coinbase’s challenges to the SEC’s charges against it and cleared the case to proceed. SEC v. Coinbase, Inc., No. 1:23-cv-04738-KPF (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 27, 2024) (Katherine Polk Failla, J.). The court held that the SEC’s allegations about Coinbase’s crypto transactions were sufficient for them to “suffice to constitute ‘investment contracts’ under the three-pronged Howey test” and thus be subject to the federal securities laws and the SEC’s enforcement authority. The SEC’s victory was not total, however, as one specific claim as to Coinbase’s Wallet product was rejected, although on different grounds.

The new Digital Assets Law No 2 of 2024 (the Digital Assets Law) was enacted in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) on 8 March 2024, alongside significant supporting amendments to existing legislation.

On 1 March 2024, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) issued the Advisory Guidelines on the Use of Personal Data in AI Recommendation and Decision Systems (AI Advisory Guidelines). These AI Advisory Guidelines followed a public consultation which concluded in August 2023. Our blog post on the public consultation for the draft AI Advisory Guidelines can be accessed here.

On 7 March 2024, the European Court of Justice (the ECJ) published an important decision in relation to IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (the TCF).

On March 13, the EU Parliament voted to adopt the EU’s AI Act. The AI Act is the EU’s first comprehensive legislation setting rules regulating artificial intelligence on an EU-wide basis. It will impose new and significant obligations on those developers, distributors, and users of AI systems that affect people in the EU.

On 1 and 2 February 2024, at the fourth 4th ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting (ADGMIN) in Singapore, ASEAN unveiled.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) has published its response to its consultation on its white paper, ‘A pro innovation approach to AI regulation’ (the Response). The Response outlines key investment initiatives and regulatory steps.

Our lawyers from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US share their insights on what to expect across the regulatory landscape in relation to FinTech and crypto-assets in 2024.