Compliance Stuff

Cybersecurity Awareness Month was established to provide resources to organizations and their employees to help them stay safer and more secure online. It is an opportunity to focus on four key behaviors: creating strong passwords and using a password manager, enabling multi-factor authentication, updating software, and recognizing and reporting scams . Each of these key behaviors are necessary to help keep organizations, their clients, and their employees secure. Safeguarding Digital Assets by Identifying, Avoiding, and Reporting Phishing Attempts Cyber criminals deploy scams to try to convince people to give their passwords, information, or money. Malicious emails are one of the primary methods for these cyber scams, and remain one of the top risks facing organizations, especially as advances in artificial intelligence give cyber criminals the ability to craft highly sophisticated and hard-to-identify phishing emails. No email filter can detect and catch all malicious emails, so some...

On August 18, Governor Pritzker of Illinois  announced  he had signed two comprehensive pieces of consumer protection legislation: The  Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act ,  which will regulate digital asset companies; and the  Digital Asset Kiosks Act ,  which will regulate cryptoasset kiosk operators. In the press release, Governor Pritzker stated the laws “create first-of-their-kind safeguards in the Midwest for cryptocurrency and other digital assets,” and noted that according to the FBI, Illinois consumers lost $272 million in fraud cases involving cryptocurrency in 2024. Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act The Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act establishes a framework to regulate digital assets in the state. The statute designates the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR) as the primary regulator , granting it oversight authority of entities engaging in “digital asset business transactions,” which...

Introduction On July 30, 2025, the White House released a 166-page report titled “ Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology ” (the “Report”).[1] Authored by a working group of cabinet members and federal agency officials, the Report calls for the expansion of American digital asset markets; the abandonment of “regulation by enforcement” with a refocus of enforcement efforts on terrorists, drug cartels, and other bad actors; and a revamp of bank regulatory and tax policies, among other things. It identifies key federal and other regulators that exercise jurisdiction over digital asset markets and endorses the most sweeping set of Executive Branch recommendations to change financial laws within the United States since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Digital Asset Market Structure: The SEC and CFTC Consistent with previous administrations, the Report recognizes the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures T...

On June 17, the U.S. Senate voted 68-30 to pass  S.1582 , the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, known as the GENIUS Act (the Act). This represents a landmark effort by the U.S. Congress to establish a comprehensive federal framework for the regulation of payment stablecoins. Passed with bipartisan support in the Senate, the Act aims to provide regulatory clarity, enhance consumer protection, and safeguard national security in the rapidly growing stablecoin sector. Policy Objectives The Act is designed to close regulatory gaps, mitigate systemic and illicit finance risks, and maintain the U.S. dollar’s dominance in the digital economy. It seeks to provide a clear legal pathway for stablecoin innovation while ensuring consumer and financial system protection. Definition and Scope Definition : The Act defines “payment stablecoins” as digital assets designed to maintain a stable value relative to a fixed amount of U.S. dollars or similarly liquid as...