Sky Blog
The traditional mechanisms for ensuring corporate accountability – civil, regulatory, and federal criminal – are failing. At the same time, industries that generate great economic value are inflicting a great deal of harm. This moment calls for effective reforms that …
Today [December 11] the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) received a briefing from Treasury staff on potential revisions to the Council’s interpretative guidance regarding nonbank financial company determinations. And I was especially encouraged to see revising the non-bank designation guidance …
Good morning and thank you Aaron [Klein]. It is a pleasure to be here this morning. While this isn’t a “farewell address,” I hope you will indulge me if I take the opportunity to reflect a little bit on what …
Any state that aspires to be a serious contender in the competition for corporate charters must have a specialized corporate law court. Delaware leads this competition in part because of its Court of Chancery, which has produced an exceptional body …
In October 2025, Bitcoin experienced its largest single-day crash since the COVID-19 pandemic, a 20% decline that economist Paul Krugman attributed not to economic fundamentals but to threats against Donald Trump’s political standing. 1 Krugman’s diagnosis was stark: Bitcoin had …
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Lynn, let me start by thanking you for your generous introduction and for hosting this event at the Exchange. My thanks as well to the market participants here today. And of course, I am grateful …
In the market for corporate control, regulation has long been viewed as a tax on activity, a hurdle to overcome, or a cost to be priced in. The conventional wisdom is straightforward: More regulation equals less activity. However, in a …
On November 12, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins delivered remarks (the November Remarks) revisiting his announcement of “ Project Crypto,” the Commission-wide initiative launched earlier this year to promote blockchain innovation in U.S. financial markets. Chairman Atkins laid …
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy observed in the Citizens United decision that shareholders of publicly traded companies could employ the procedures of corporate democracy to ensure that shareholder value was not diverted to political causes and candidates that they …
As more corporate insiders are compensated with their firm’s stock, insider trading becomes more common. However, determining when insiders use private information to guide their trades remains a challenge. Regulators and market participants try to infer whether insiders “know something …
By Announcement today [November 17], the Division of Corporation Finance has apparently determined that, as a matter of “resource and timing considerations,” it will not respond to no-action requests for relief under Rule 14a-8. But, this Announcement is more of …
When I spoke recently about American leadership in the digital finance revolution, I described “Project Crypto” as our effort to match the energy of American innovators with a regulatory framework worthy of them. Today, I would like to outline the …
Corporate insiders’ opportunistic trading – particularly selling their firms’ stocks before bad news – erodes public trust, reduces market participation, and exacerbates the agency problem that occurs when the interests of insiders and the company conflict. Yet, regulators have been …
Policymakers and academics have extensively debated the extent and the nature of the revolving door phenomenon – the movement of workers between the government and the private sector. Proponents claim that the flow of former regulators to commercial firms fosters …
Democratic institutions depend on public confidence to function effectively. Citizens comply with tax laws when they trust the IRS, cooperate with police when they view law enforcement as legitimate, and engage constructively with regulators they perceive as fair and effective. …
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ speech last week in Delaware sounded to many like a death knell for shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8. In fact, it was far more strategic: the opening move to test whether Delaware corporate law even permits …
Following discussions with Davis Polk and other leading capital markets law firms, the SEC posted updated guidance that provides a path forward for companies seeking to IPO during the shutdown. Because the SEC is currently shut down, it cannot declare …
The federal government shutdown commenced at midnight on October 1, 2025, and proposals to reopen the government failed on October 3, extending the shutdown further into the fourth quarter.
On September 30, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued …