Governments worldwide are struggling to keep up with how to regulate new decentralized online currencies as blockchain platforms become more prominent across financial networks. (David Tweed, Bloomberg). But even though an increasing number of investors utilize cryptocurrencies, many are still confused about how to treat virtual currency for tax purposes. (Kelly Phillips, Forbes). Recently, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the collection of taxes, opened a contract to procure software to help identify when cryptocurrency is used to avoid paying taxes. (David Canellis, TNW).

Since the early 1990s, the legalization of marijuana has been a prominent subject in American legislation. (Scott C. Martin, TIME) As public support for legalization has grown, the laws affecting cannabis and marijuana related businesses have been difficult to navigate. (Hilary Sledge-Sarnor, Business Law Today) These difficulties are largely attributed to a number of inconsistencies between federal and state law, which make it increasingly difficult to determine what is legal in regard to marijuana-related activity. (Id.) As of June 25, 2019, thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing marijuana, with eleven explicitly regulating marijuana for recreational use. (GOVERNING)

According to Paul Schulte, former global head of financial strategy for China Construction bank, China’s Central Bank will launch a state-backed cryptocurrency and issue it to seven institutions in the coming months. (Michael del Castillo, Forbes). Mu Changchun, deputy director of the Paying Division of the People’s Bank of China and the new head of China’s cryptocurrency research lab, described this as a “two-tiered” system wherein the central bank would create the cryptocurrency and a small group of trusted commercial businesses would “pay the central bank 100% in full” to be allowed to distribute it. (Id.) The cryptocurrency will initially be dispersed to the 1.3 billion people and entities doing business with renminbi, China’s fiat currency, but the Central Bank hopes the currency will eventually be made available to spenders in the United States and elsewhere through relationships with correspondent banks in the west. (Id.)

In September of 2018, California was the first state in the U.S. to sign into law mandatory gender diversity on boards of public companies listed on a major U.S. stock exchange. (Richard Vernon Smith, Forbes). The California law went into effect at the close of 2019 calendar year. It requires any corporation with shares listed on a major U.S. stock exchange that is incorporated in or with a principal executive office in the state of California to have a minimum of one female on its board of directors. (SB No. 826, California Legislative Information). By the end of 2021, the law will increase the required minimum number of directors to two female directors if the corporation has five or three if the corporation has six or more directors.

The Responsible Sourcing Network’s 2018 report on commercial efforts to disclose reliable data when purchasing conflict minerals illustrated a concerning trend.(Andrea Vittorio, Bloomberg). The current trend indicates that many companies who deal in conflict minerals are receiving lower grades for their efforts and abilities to provide transparency on the origins of those minerals. Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to enforce reporting requirements for companies that manufacture products with conflict minerals. Conflict minerals are those that originate from mines controlled by armed groups in areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighboring countries.