Last Friday, the SEC published remarks by Commissioner Hester M. Peirce on the topic of "Protecting the Public While Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship." Among other things, the remarks confirmed that the "[SEC] is working on some supplemental guidance to help people think through whether their crypto-fundraising efforts fall under the securities laws." The Commissioner's remarks also highlighted the SEC's "standing offer for people to come in for so-called no-action relief in connection with a particular token or project." In a "no action" letter request, an applicant explains what it is seeking to do, and SEC staff can respond by advising on the application of the U.S. securities laws.

In more news related to ICOs, the University of Chicago Law School has published a study analyzing and seeking to reconcile the differences between how ICOs are treated under U.S. versus EU law. And according to recent data from crypto analytics website CoinSchedule, despite a slowdown in ICO activity in the second half of 2018, the current ICO market is still significantly larger than it was around this same time last year.

Financial institutions continue to look to blockchain for settling traditional securities products. According to reports published late last week, a major international financial services firm based in Switzerland recently completed a successful test of a blockchain platform to process and manage investment fund trades. In a similar announcement, an executive at one of the largest banks in the world said the bank's blockchain-based system could reduce the cost of settling foreign exchange trades by 25 percent. Also this week, a global financial services firm based in Spain announced a $700 million business transformation initiative in partnership with a U.S.-based global technology firm. The initiative seeks to further incorporate and take advantage of benefits offered by artificial intelligence, blockchain and big data.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bithumb recently became the next in an increasing number of cryptocurrency exchanges to launch an over-the-counter trading desk for cryptocurrencies. And Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, announced plans to release Binance DEX, a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange. Meanwhile, according to a recent report by Diar, Bitcoin network transaction fees have dropped to a four-year low and are currently "at levels not seen since 2015."

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