Strategic Legal Solutions for the Future of Innovation

The CFTC is exploring a new framework for retail crypto transactions and trading platforms, with a focus on leverage, actual delivery, and market infrastructure. With comments due December 14, 2026, crypto businesses and DeFi builders have an opportunity to help shape how future rules address their products and operations.

The SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee is taking another look at how companies access investment capital—from early-stage crowdfunding campaigns to initial public offerings. An upcoming meeting will examine potential improvements to both pathways, bringing renewed attention to the rules that shape who can raise money, how offerings reach investors, and what it takes to enter the public markets.

The IRS has updated its staking safe harbor, clarifying how certain exchange-traded digital asset trusts can stake their holdings while preserving their federal tax status. For sponsors, trustees, and service providers, Revenue Procedure 2026-20 brings important changes to custody, slashing protection, liquidity, and reward distributions—and a six-month window to align documents and operations.

Exchange fees help shape the economics of trading: what it costs to participate, which orders a broker has an incentive to bring to a venue, and how firms evaluate competing execution opportunities. A recent BOX Exchange filing changes those economics for a specific segment of its options trading floor.

The SEC has proposed a plan to distribute funds collected in the Nikola enforcement matter, with $48.8 million collected toward the company’s original $125 million penalty and a 30-day public comment period now open. We examine what the proposal means for potentially eligible investors and what the underlying case teaches founders and boards about product claims, fundraising disclosures, and executive communications.