SEC staff said on September 25 that token buybacks on functioning networks and staking receipts that only record ownership do not create investment contracts. Because they are staff views, live networks can plan repurchases around them while a future SEC or a private plaintiff could still contest them.
Reality
- Evidence68
- Adoption45
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives50
- Confidence70
The SEC moves to hand the shareholder-proposal process back to the states
A September 16 proposal would rescind Rule 14a-8 and widen the discretion companies hold over proxies already returned to them, completing a withdrawal the SEC's staff started nearly a year ago.
Reality
- Evidence72
- Adoption45
- Hype gap−6
- Incentives62
- Confidence70
SEC staff says Item 1.05 leaves a breached company free to brief its vendors
The Division of Corporation Finance has told companies that the belief that the cyber disclosure rule bars them from saying more than the 8-K is wrong. Silence toward customers and peers is now a board's call.
Reality
- Evidence74
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+18
- Incentives55
- Confidence70
Hunter Biden's launch post disclaims the exact promise that would make LAPTOP a security
Arkham marked $144bn of fully diluted value two minutes after LAPTOP launched and $5bn at the half hour, and with the SEC's February meme-coin statement in force, the only cops left for the buyers are fraud cops.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption40
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives65
- Confidence50
SEC tells 13G filers they can take the issuer's call without losing passive status
Three Corporation Finance Q&As dated September 2 say talking alone will not cost a 5%-plus holder its Schedule 13G status, with the clearest comfort reserved for conversations the issuer started, which puts visibility back on the board.
Reality
- Evidence66
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives62
- Confidence62
Without SEC no-action letters, companies face greater risk in deciding whether to exclude shareholder proposals
Corp Fin will no longer answer any Rule 14a-8 no-action request, so the judgment about whether an exclusion holds sits with the company that makes it, and the next reader of that judgment is a judge.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption76
- Hype gap−12
- Incentives57
- Confidence63
General counsel now carry the whole risk of excluding a shareholder proposal
The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance has stopped answering companies on Rule 14a-8, which leaves the 80-day exclusion notice as the only filing in the process and the opinion inside it entirely the company's own.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption50
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives68
- Confidence57
The SEC stopped grading proxy exclusions. Now the board's lawyers do.
Nine in ten exclusion requests now draw a no-objection letter that reflects no review of the merits, and requests fell by half. The judgement moved to the general counsel's office.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption74
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives55
- Confidence57