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Last week, President Trump issued an executive order – entitled “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations” – with the goal of curbing the use of criminal penalties otherwise imposed by federal regulations. The executive order argues that citizens can’t possibly know all of the federal regs out there, and that larger companies have an advantage because they can hire lawyers more easily than the average American. …

The House Financial Services Committee voted to include a provision in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill that would abolish the PCAOB. The proposal would reassign PCAOB functions to the SEC. Unfortunately, if this PCAOB provision stays in the budget reconciliation bill, it’s likely to be the end of the PCAOB. The fate of the PCAOB would be a minor detail in the context of the reconciliation …

Last week, Corp Fin did some spring cleaning in the Rule 10b5-1 area by adding two new CDIs, revising 20 CDIs, and withdrawing three CDIs so they better jibe with the amendments to Rule 10b5-1 in 2022. Most of the changes are truly spring cleaning in nature – touch ups that don’t deal with much in the way of substance. But there are a handful …

Here’s the intro from this Cooley Alert penned by William Pao, Alexander Galicki, Michelle Doolin, Rodrigo Seira and Derek Colla: “Crypto is now in Washington’s good graces – or at least that’s how it may seem. The return of the Trump administration has injected new energy into the crypto asset space, with sweeping rhetoric about “unleashing innovation” and a flurry of early moves that suggest …

My mind was sort of blown when I read this recent press release saying that the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) had filed this Form 1 application to register as a national securities exchange. I was tripping because the TXSE was reported to be the first fully integrated exchange to file a registration in 25 years, which means that perhaps I was one of the last …

Recently, I blogged about how Republican members of the House Committee on Financial Services sent this letter to the SEC asking it to retract a total of 14 adopted – and proposed – rules. In a related vein, President Donald Trump released this Presidential Memorandum last week, further implementing an executive order that was issued back on February 19th: Executive Order 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance …

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Paul Atkins as the new SEC Chair. Acting Chair Mark Uyeda will continue at the SEC serving as a SEC Commissioner. Paul is a former SEC Commissioner, serving in that role from 2002 to 2008 and before that, worked at the SEC on the staff of then-SEC Chair Richard Breeden. So he is a rare incoming SEC Chair who is familiar …

Last week, Nasdaq released this interesting paper that sets forth a set of recommendations to improve the capital markets. Nasdaq believes its recommendations not only come out at a critical time when policymakers have real concerns about the state of the public company model in the US, but also at a time when there is a real opportunity to change this dynamic.   Among other …

Earlier this week, Republican members of the House Committee on Financial Services sent this letter to the SEC asking that it retract a total of 14 adopted – and proposed – rules. Among this list are two that Corp Fin ushered through the rulemaking process over the past few years: the cybersecurity disclosure rules and the pay-vs-performance rules. Interesting, the SEC’s climate disclosure rules are …