A federal district court ruled that the SEC can continue its case against a firm in the business of selling interests in a Bitcoin enterprise. The Court ruled that the firm's offerings met the definition of "investment contract" and (thus) "securities" under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Lofchie Comment: The Bitcoins case raises interesting questions about regulatory jurisdiction (which the court does not address) - i.e., Bitcoins are a form of currency interest that should be regulated by the CFTC rather than the SEC. It will be interesting to see whether

The SEC has issued a guidance update on whether Rule 206(4)-2 ("Custody of Funds or Securities of Clients by Investment Advisers") of the IAA requires advisers of audited pooled investment vehicles to maintain certain instruments with a qualified custodian. Namely, these instruments are non-transferable stock certificates or "certificated" LLC interests that were obtained in a private placement ("private stock certificates"). The guidance states that the private stock need not be held with a custodian if it meets the following five criteria: The client is a pooled investment vehicle that is

According to an MFA blog post, financial transaction taxes in France and Italy have been negatively affecting trading volume in the two countries. The post further reports that trading volume in France and Italy has fallen by 10 percent from 2012 to 2013, while trading volume for the rest of Europe has increased by 14 percent within the same time period. See: MFA Blog.

The MSRB has released municipal market statistics for the second quarter of 2013, including data on trading patterns and disclosure submissions made to the MSRB for the municipal bond market. See: MSRB Second Quarter Statistic Highlights; MSRB Second Quarter Statistics.

New SRO rules and rule proposals have been announced by the SEC. Click on the links below to view the SEC's notice of each rule change and proposal. NYSE Arca: Effective Immediately - Rule Change Amending NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.3(i)(1)(i) to Specify the Procedures to Be Followed if a Listed Derivative Securities Product or a Listed Structured Product Is Based on an Index or Portfolio of Securities and Such Index or Portfolio Is Modified or Replaced (See also Exhibit 5) NYSEMKT: Effective Immediately - Rule Change Amending the Message to Contracts Traded Ratio Fee in the NYSE Amex Options