NoDoubt Crypto LLC (NoDoubt Crypto)—a fictitious Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in New York, N.Y.—is an innovative new FinTech startup in the digital assets or blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) space. One thing NoDoubt Crypto wants—aside from revolutionizing the way financial markets operate and making a profit—is regulatory clarity. And regulatory simplicity. Okay, two things. NoDoubt Crypto, however, is unlikely to get either. Why? Let us take a look at regulatory developments in 2018.

Starting From the Top

Absent legislative action by Congress, the regulation of digital assets and DLT appear to be under the concurrent jurisdiction of several federal regulatory agencies, departments and bureaus, primarily, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).