CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Philip Moustakis |

Counsel

A former senior counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Philip advises companies and individuals at Seward & Kissel on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, SEC enforcement matters, other regulatory investigations, and internal investigations. As a founding member of the SEC’s Cyber Unit, Philip advised the Commission on cryptocurrencies and investigated matters involving initial coin offerings (ICOs), unlawful touting of ICOs, and other violations of the federal securities laws related to cryptocurrencies. Publicly filed enforcement matters Philip spearheaded included the SEC’s first ever Bitcoin-related enforcement action against the operator of Bitcoin Savings & Trust, a Bitcoin-denominated Ponzi scheme, settled proceedings against an operator of a Bitcoin-related social media marketing venture and a popular Bitcoin betting site for the offer and sale of unregistered securities, and settled proceedings against an operator of unregistered cryptocurrency-denominated securities exchanges and broker-dealers.

“The SEC is a principles based regulator, and it will assert its jurisdiction over any securities offering or transaction, as it has done since the onset of the ICO craze, regardless of the technology used to facilitate such an offering.”

- Philip’s thoughts on the recent SEC enforcement action against Kik Interactive, Inc. as published in the Crowdfund Insider article “Former SEC Senior Counsel Comments on Kik Ruling: Kik Could Have Benefited From Traditional Capital Markets Lawyer "