About
The Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) facilitates the SEC's active engagement with innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs of financial technology.
FinHub coordinates the agency’s oversight and response regarding emerging technologies in financial, regulatory, and supervisory systems, including distributed ledger technology like crypto asset markets as well as automated investment advice, digital marketplace financing, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.
FinHub often is the initial and central point of contact for internal and external engagement with market participants, thereby helping to shape the agency’s approach to, and understanding of, technological changes in the financial industry.
Engage With FinHub
FinHub welcomes requests for meetings and other assistance related to FinTech issues arising under the federal securities laws.
Valerie A. Szczepanik
Contact the Office
202-551-3482 (FHUB)Investor Education Resources
Programs and Services
FinHub serves as a public resource for information about the SEC’s views and actions related to FinTech innovation.
FinHub spearheads agency efforts to encourage responsible innovation in the financial sector, including in the following areas:
Blockchain/Distributed Ledger
In recent years, the SEC has encountered a number of issues relating to distributed ledger technology and blockchains. The term distributed ledger refers to databases that maintain information across a network of computers in a decentralized or distributed manner. These networks commonly use cryptographic protocols to ensure data integrity and consensus mechanisms to ensure data congruity. Blockchains are one type of distributed ledger, and they are often used to issue and transfer ownership of crypto assets/digital assets that may be securities, depending on the facts and circumstances.
- Order Granting Accelerated Approval of Proposed Rule Changes, as Modified by Amendments Thereto, to List and Trade Shares of Ether-Based Exchange-Traded Products
- Order Granting Accelerated Approval of Proposed Rule Changes, as Modified by Amendments Thereto, to List and Trade Bitcoin-Based Commodity-Based Trust Shares and Trust Units
- IOSCO Decentralized Finance Report
- Valkyrie XBTO Bitcoin Futures
- Teucrium Bitcoin Futures Fund Order
- Boston Security Token Exchange LLC Order
- Statement for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets
- Framework for 'Investment Contract' Analysis of Digital Assets
- No-Action Letters
- Exemptive Orders
- Statement on Digital Asset Securities Issuance and Trading
- Former Chairman Jay Clayton's Testimony on Virtual Currencies: The Role of the SEC and CFTC
- Former Director, Hinman speech on digital asset transactions
- Statement on Potentially Unlawful Online Platforms for Trading Digital Assets
- Remarks before the AICPA National Conference on Banks & Saving Institutions
- Joint Staff Statement on Broker-Dealer Custody of Digital Asset Securities
- Joint Statement of CFTC/FinCEN/SEC Leaders on Activities Involving Digital Assets
- Letter to NYDFS on Proposed Coin Listing Policy Framework
- FinHub Statement on OCC Interpretation related to stablecoin reserves
- Staff Statement on WY Division of Banking's "NAL Custody of Digital Assets and Qualified Custodian Status"
- President's Working Group on Financial Markets Statement Re Stablecoins
- Custody of Digital Asset Securities by Broker-Dealers
- Division of Examinations Digital Asset Risk Alert
- Division of Examinations Announces 2023 Priorities
- Staff Statement on Funds Registered Under the Investment Company Act Investing in the Bitcoin Futures Market
- President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report on Stablecoins
- Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121
- Crypto Asset/Digital Asset Related Enforcement Actions
- Staff Letter and Responses: Fund Innovation and Crypto Holdings
- Transfer Agent Concept Release (blockchain applications)
- Non-DVP and Custody of Digital Assets Letter
- Staff Statement on WY Division of Banking's "NAL Custody of Digital Assets and Qualified Custodian Status"
- Invitation to comment on the Custody of Digital Asset Securities by Broker-Dealers
- BOX Exchange LLC Rulemaking
- NYSE Arca Rulemaking
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
Machine learning and artificial intelligence refers to methods of using computers to mine and analyze large data sets. This area of technological innovation is moving rapidly and the extent of related SEC activity is expanding.
Enforcement Matters
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment Fraud: Investor Alert
- SEC Charges Two Investment Advisers with Making False and Misleading Statements About Their Use of Artificial Intelligence
- SEC Charges Founder of AI Hiring Startup Joonko with Fraud
- Mina Tadrus; Tadrus Capital LLC
- SEC Charges Founder of American Bitcoin Academy Online Crypto Course with Fraud Targeting Students
Digital Marketplace Financing
Digital marketplace financing generally refers to financing methods that do not use traditional financial institutions as intermediaries. The financing can be in the form of loans, often called online marketplace lending, or equity or equity-like securities, often called crowdfunding. The SEC has been addressing digital marketplace financing activities related to funding portals, platforms, and investments for some time.
Automated Investment Advice
Automated investment advisers/Robo-advisers are investment advisers that typically provide asset management services through online algorithmic-based programs. Since their introduction, the SEC has been involved with regulating these market participants.