The Trump administration continues its efforts to relax digital asset regulation, including most recently by exempting decentralized finance ("DeFi") apps and wallets from tax reporting and through Securities and Exchange...more
4/15/2025
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
IRS ,
Offerings ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Liability ,
Trump Administration
As public companies increasingly discuss their artificial intelligence ("AI") capabilities, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reminds us that it is closely watching these claims....more
In Short -
The Background: On October 10, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") adopted amendments to the rules that govern beneficial ownership reporting for investors, marking the first update to...more
10/18/2023
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Business Ownership ,
Financial Markets ,
Internal Reporting ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Shareholders
In Short -
The Situation: On July 26, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted final rules that significantly alter cybersecurity disclosure obligations for companies. The SEC's final rules adopt...more
8/2/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Final Rules ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 8-K ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
If adopted, these proposed rules would (i) enhance protection of customer information under Regulation S-P, (ii) add new requirements addressing cybersecurity risk to the U.S. securities markets, and (iii) expand the types of...more
In Short -
The Situation: On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted final rules that significantly alter the ways in which directors and officers adopt and utilize Rule 10b5-1 plans and...more
In Short -
The Situation: The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's ("PCAOB") ability to inspect and investigate PCAOB-registered public accounting firms in mainland China and Hong Kong was previously restricted...more
As discussed in Jones Day's March 2022 Alert, the SEC has proposed climate-related disclosure rules. If adopted as proposed, the Proposed Rules would depart from the SEC's historical regulation of SEC-reporting FPIs, which...more
7/1/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
In 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the use of special purpose acquisition companies ("SPACs") as a means of taking companies public grew exponentially. SPAC IPOs raised a total of more than $160 billion in that five...more
As part of the SEC's broader rulemaking initiative, on March 9, 2022, the SEC proposed amendments to enhance and standardize disclosures regarding cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident reporting by...more
3/14/2022
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Form 8-K ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The Situation: In August 2020, the Division of Trading and Markets ("Division") of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") approved proposed rule changes by the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") to permit primary...more
The Situation: The term "accredited investor" under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") is used to establish the eligibility of investors to participate in offerings conducted under the most frequently used private...more
Recent measures from U.S. lawmakers and Nasdaq to impose additional requirements on U.S.-listed China-based companies could have wider implications.
On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Holding Foreign...more
7/13/2020
/ China ,
China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Foreign Governments ,
Listing Standards ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
PCAOB ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The current proposal, which was submitted by the NYSE on June 22, 2020, would, like the prior proposal, allow a private company seeking to raise capital through a direct listing to satisfy the NYSE's market value requirement...more
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented and rapidly evolving disruptions to public companies’ businesses, financial condition, and results of operations, as well as broad-based economic dislocation and...more
The Situation: In an effort to modernize, simplify, and enhance certain financial disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") proposed certain amendments on January 30,...more
Less than a week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") rejected a proposed rule change to permit primary capital raising in direct listings, the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") submitted an updated...more
12/27/2019
/ Capital Raising ,
Direct Listing ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Banks ,
Listing Rules ,
NYSE ,
Popular ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Valuation
On December 6, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a proposed New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") rule change that would allow companies to raise capital in a direct listing...more
12/13/2019
/ Capital Raising ,
Direct Listing ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Banks ,
Listing Rules ,
NYSE ,
Popular ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Valuation
The Situation: Direct listings, through which a company lists its shares on a national stock exchange without conducting a traditional initial public offering ("IPO"), have received significant attention from the media and...more
12/6/2019
/ Capital Raising ,
Direct Listing ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Banks ,
Listing Rules ,
NYSE ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Valuation
The Situation: As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") continues to bring enforcement actions to stop unregistered sales of digital tokens, blockchain companies are exploring ways to sell tokens to the public...more
The Situation: In recent years, the overall framework for exempt offerings has shifted as new exemptions from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") have been introduced and existing...more
7/5/2019
/ Accredited Investors ,
Capital Formation ,
Capital Markets ,
Capital Raising ,
Exemptions ,
Investors ,
Registration Requirement ,
Safe Harbors ,
Secondary Markets ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Situation: The Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporate Finance, William Hinman, has weighed in on when digital assets will be characterized as securities.
The Result: In...more
6/26/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Ether ,
Goods or Services ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales
As the interest in blockchain technology grows, companies will be confronted with numerous decisions, challenges, and legal issues pertaining to its adoption. Relevant matters include the overall design and control of...more
9/6/2017
/ Australia ,
Blockchain ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
France ,
Germany ,
Hong Kong ,
Japan ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Singapore ,
Smart Contracts ,
Supply Chain ,
UK
On August 1, 2017, Delaware became the first state to allow corporations to use blockchain technology to maintain corporate records. This development comes almost a year after Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware...more
Against the backdrop of recent growth of initial coin or token offerings ("ICOs"), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), on July 25, 2017, published its first public statements on this fundraising practice. The...more