Baker McKenzie partner based in Chicago, Samuel Kramer, has contributed to the United States: TMT Chapter of the 2024 Legal 500 TMT Country Comparative Guide. The 8th Edition of this chapter provides an overview of TMT laws and regulations applicable in the United States. The aim of the Country Comparative Guide is to provide its readers with a pragmatic overview of the law and practice of technology law across a variety of jurisdictions. Each chapter…
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented global crisis, including notable disruptions of international trade and supply chains, which have presented new challenges and risks to companies doing business internationally. The pandemic also exposed vulnerabilities in supply chain infrastructure, such as a lack of diversity in suppliers, weaknesses in offshore sources of supply and insufficient contractual remedies to deal interruptions in the supply of key products and services, among others. What should companies be doing…
Blockchain technology was born in the midst of the financial crisis and proposed as a means of reliably transferring a store of value without using a bank or other financial intermediary. Bitcoin was the first such blockchain token, and multiple cryptocurrencies have followed. But blockchain use cases extend far beyond the financial world, and some of the more creative uses of blockchain technology have emerged in the supply chain. The numerous benefits of blockchain to…
A new interpretation of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (the CFTC) removes some uncertainty from a key exemption for virtual currencies. On March 23, 2020, the CFTC approved its final interpretive guidance on the meaning of the term “actual delivery”. In order for retail commodity transactions involving digital assets to be exempt from CFTC regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), the transaction must result in actual delivery within 28 days, or such other…
There has been unprecedented growth in the FinTech industry, with investment in the sector estimated to be upwards of $19 Billion in 2015. Technology companies have achieved success in the mobile payment space, while peer-to-peer lenders have services challenging traditional bank loans. Tech companies are starting to offer blockchain and similar distributed ledger products that challenge the role of settlement intermediaries. Not to be outdone, bank and other financial institutions have moved aggressively into FinTech…
Part of the b:INFORM 2015/2016 Cloud Survey Trend SeriesMany banking regulators consider cloud computing to be a form of outsourcing. For supervised financial institutions, use of external cloud computing for material business functions is a regulated activity. Previously issued guidance by financial regulators on outsourcing and offshoring is likely to apply to cloud services, in addition to specific cloud related statements.Board Level Attention RequiredThe FFIEC in the US, the FCA in the UK, and APRA…