Sky Blog
There is a venerable history of interdependence between sovereign debt and the financial system. The national banking system in the U.S. arose as a solution to fiscal challenges the Union government faced in the Civil War. A key requirement for …
President Trump entered the White House in January 2025 promising to make the United States the “Crypto Capital of the World.” The federal agencies and Congress are responding with unprecedented speed to make that a reality.
In the depth of …
On July 30, 2025, the White House released a report titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” which outlines the Trump administration’s proposed policy roadmap on digital assets (Report). The Report was mandated by Executive Order 14178, issued on …
Executive Summary
On August 7, 2025, the Trump Administration released the heavily anticipated Executive Order, “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (the “Executive Order”), which represents a significant development and a positive step toward facilitating investment by defined …
In July 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act (H.R. 1919), legislation prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to the public.¹ Days later, President Trump signed the Guiding …
A fundamental question in corporate finance is how the flow of information affects the cost of raising capital. Investors tend to reward transparency because it helps them evaluate a firm’s risks and prospects, and they often accept lower returns when …
In the modern private capital markets, the traditional distinctions between equity and debt have become increasingly blurred and inadequate to capture the complexity of modern investment instruments. Sophisticated market participants – particularly private credit funds – have begun to craft …
After nearly two decades of regulatory uncertainty, digital assets stand at a critical juncture in American financial law. On July 18, 2025, President Trump signed the “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act,” known as the GENIUS Act, …
Following on the heels of last year’s blockbuster Term, the Supreme Court recently concluded another of equal consequence. But even as the Court grappled with contentious issues ranging from birthright citizenship to the process owed deportees, it also issued significant …
In a recent article, professors Jill Fisch and Jeff Schwartz argue that the beneficiary primacy model – requiring pension fund trustees to maximize economic value solely for beneficiaries – fundamentally misunderstands the nature of public pension funds. They contend …
In recent years, the failure of high-profile startups has drawn renewed attention to a persistent question in the venture capital (VC) world: How much diligence is enough when speed of investment is at a premium? Collapses at the likes of …
Most industry and academic discussion about the Fed focuses, as is appropriate, on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ role in managing monetary policy and, in particular, its tools for managing interest rates and inflation in the shadow of tariffs …
In a significant step towards modernizing Bank Secrecy Act compliance, FinCEN and certain banking agencies are providing flexibility in “know your customer” requirements for banks.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), …
Decades of marijuana prohibition in the U.S. have proven costly, consuming billions in enforcement dollars and burdening the criminal justice system with millions of marijuana-related arrests. However, as societal attitudes toward marijuana have shifted and the benefits of legalization have …
Climate change has become a central topic of discussion among banking regulators and policymakers. While many policymakers focus primarily on addressing the environmental externalities associated with carbon emissions, banking regulators confront a unique set of challenges that the current regulatory …
When a team of researchers asked an artificial intelligence system to design a railway network that minimized the risk of train collisions, the AI delivered a surprising solution: Halt all trains entirely. No motion, no crashes. A perfect safety record, …
The promise of decentralized finance (DeFi) was that it would replace often conflict-ridden financial intermediaries and hierarchies with automated systems that we could trust. The reality, however, is that DeFi has not eradicated conflicts or trust issues but shifted them …
As AI systems evolve, there’s been a surge of attention and anxiety around how they are reshaping the workforce. The conversation often centers on which jobs are at risk of automation and what machines are capable of. While these are …