United States: Don’t HODL the Questions: SEC Staff Answers Questions on Crypto Taxonomy
By Thoreau A. Bartmann, Lance C. Dial, and Sarah V. Riddell
The SEC and its staff continue their efforts to clarify the somewhat murky regulatory environment for crypto assets. On Friday, 25 September 2026, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued new FAQs on its March Taxonomy (the “Crypto FAQs”).
Read MoreUnited States: Mark My Words: SEC Staff Guidance on Private Credit Valuation
By Thoreau A. Bartmann, Sasha Burstein, Lance C. Dial, Pablo J. Man, and George Zornada
On 28 September 2026, the Chief Accountant and the Director of the Division of Investment Management issued a joint statement on fair valuation of private assets (the “Statement”). On its face, it doesn’t break much ground, as it mostly restates existing guidance. However, the most important thing about this statement may be that it was issued at all. With this statement, the underlying message is clear: the SEC staff is looking for robust valuation policies and procedures coupled with material disclosures.
Read MoreUnited States: SEC and CFTC Open Door to Tokenized Markets After Clarity Fails to Advance
By Tamika Bent, Timothy Foley, Sarah Riddell, and Sanjeev Bhasker
The SEC and CFTC have separately granted relief for the advancement of crypto-based trading infrastructure in US markets, in an apparent direct response to Congress’s stalled efforts to move the CLARITY Act forward.
Read MoreUnited States: SEC Proposes Modernization Overhaul of Transfer Agent Rules
By Jon Luc Dupuy and Timothy Foley
The SEC is proposing to substantively overhaul the securities transfer agent regulatory framework, which has largely remained unchanged since the paperwork-based system of the mid-1970s. Since this time, modern-day transfer agent operations have expanded in scope and complexity, outpacing rules mainly established prior to the advent of the Internet. Many of the SEC’s proposed changes are designed to technologically neutralize the rules for adaptation to the modern environment, including utilization of distributed ledger technology. However, there are several changes that fund advisers and their transfer agents should specifically note:
Read MoreUnited States: Away With Pay to Play?
By: Thoreau A. Bartmann, Lance C. Dial, Jennifer L. Klass, and Pablo J. Man
Sometimes, people like to give money to other people. Sometimes, those other people are politicians. Sometimes those politicians are officials of government entities whose funds investment advisers manage in exchange for compensation. There are lots of reasons someone would give money to politicians, but, over the last almost-sixteen years the SEC made it challenging for employees of investment advisers to give politicians money. Today the SEC has just proposed to undo that.
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