Topline
Atkins SEC priorities: IPOs, investor access, and innovation
ICYMI:Recap on tax win
Congress poised to deliver crypto win on stablecoins
Atkins outlines priorities for SEC agenda
Last week SEC Chairman Paul Atkins outlined key initiatives and principles he expects the commission to tackle. Here are some top takeaways:
Make IPOs great again. Atkins attributed the decline in IPOs over the past couple of years to costly red tape and regulatory impediments, in addition to an abundance of private capital that is subject to fewer disclosure requirements and litigation risks. Atkins wants to ensure IPOs remain a viable route, so expect activity to streamline regulations to go public (e.g. SPACs) and lowering burdens of being public (disclosures and corporate governance).
Increase private market access (with some potential strings). Atkins also intends to make private markets more accessible and to broaden investor opportunities. Expanding access will also come with expanded oversight, as he acknowledged challenges with liquidity, valuation, and the potential for adverse selection that will have to be addressed.
Tokenization is innovation. Atkins sees tokenization—blockchain-based tokens that represent traditional securities—as meaningful innovation that can bring more efficiency and certainty to both public and private markets. But an embrace of innovation is not without bounds, as evidenced by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s words of caution on tokenization: “As powerful as blockchain technology is, it does not have magical abilities to transform the nature of the underlying asset. Tokenized securities are still securities. Accordingly, market participants must consider—and adhere to—the federal securities laws when transacting in these instruments.” (emphasis added)
Why it matters: The SEC is open for business, and this is the time for the industry to engage and to shape the rules—and to drive the future of private capital. As an ecosystem, we have an opportunity to help shape a regulatory framework in a responsible and sustainable way that will lower barriers and broaden access to more participants. Carta is engaging policymakers to:
Expand investor access: Expand on-ramps to become an accredited investor and enable more investors to access private markets through professionally managed funds
Bolster private funds: Increase investor limits for VC funds and expand VC funds’ ability to make fund-of-fund and secondary investments.
Modernize regulation: Update the existing private market regulatory framework to reflect evolving market expectations, technology, and practices
Please reach out if you would like to get involved—we would love to hear your friction points and suggestions around areas to improve.
ICYMI: Big wins for innovation ecosystem in tax bill
President Trump signed H.R. 1 into law last week, which contained key wins for the innovation ecosystem, including:
Protecting and expanding QSBS
Restoring full and immediate expensing for R&D
Maintaining carried interest tax treatment
Carta and the policy coalition we built —the Innovator Alliance—drove many of these efforts. We will continue to push for a policy infrastructure that bolsters and broadens the private capital ecosystem. Reach out to policy@carta.com if you have ideas to improve policy or want to engage in these efforts.
And stay tuned for more resources on how to navigate and benefit from these new changes.
Here’s Anthony, live from the Capitol steps, on H.R. 1:
House sets the stage for 'Crypto Week'
House Republicans are set to vote on a number of high-profile crypto bills next week, delivering President Trump his first major legislative win on crypto policy.
Stablecoin framework: The House is slated to consider the Senate-passed GENIUS Act, which would create the first U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. While the House had its own version of the bill (STABLE Act), the GENIUS Act passed the Senate with a strong bipartisan vote, putting pressure on the House to adopt it without any changes and send it to the president’s desk for signature.
Market structure framework: The House will also vote on the CLARITY Act, which would create a comprehensive market structure framework to regulate digital assets. While the bill received a strong bipartisan vote in the House Agriculture Committee, the measure lost support from key Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee due to concerns around the Trump family’s crypto ventures and perceived conflicts of interest.
What’s next: The House is expected to pass the GENIUS Act, representing the first major crypto regulatory measure adopted by Congress, marking a huge win for the industry and a boost to its efforts to go mainstream. The path forward on market structure is harder. While many Democrats support the policy on its merits, the president’s ties to the industry have complicated the efforts. Expect this to be the continued focus of policymakers, but to take more time and negotiation despite the House’s likely passage this coming week.
SBA revisits SBIC boundaries
The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a set of proposed revisions related to the Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) regulations focused on the following key areas:
Streamlining rules around the application and licensing process, including the creation of a short-form “expedited subsequent fund” evaluation for follow-on applicants
Removing obsolete and redundant provisions and clarifying definitions to enhance transparency
Amendments to encourage investment in critical sectors, including critical minerals, rare-earth elements, and designated critical technologies
Why it matters: The proposed revisions to the SBIC rules aim to modernize and streamline the program by eliminating outdated regulations, clarifying definitions, and creating a faster licensing track for experienced fund managers—while also encouraging investment in strategic sectors like critical minerals and advanced technology. The proposal is open for comment until September 5, which provides an opportunity to engage and help identify regulations that could be removed, preserved, or improved to promote capital formation for small businesses.
Quick hits
Administration kicks reciprocal tariffs down the road. President Trump extended the July 9 tariff deadline to August 1, preventing the majority of reciprocal tariffs announced on “Liberation Day” from taking effect. The extension buys the administration more time to negotiate and make progress toward deals with the majority of our international trading partners. But Trump has threatened higher tariff rates for some of our major Asian trading partners if a deal is not reached by the end of the month, in addition to tariff warnings on copper and pharmaceuticals.
Trump executive order seeks end to wind and solar energy subsidies. The EO directs the Treasury to narrow “safe harbor” provisions for wind and solar tax credits by defining stricter construction requirements and instructs the Interior Department to eliminate any preferential treatment of renewables, intensifying the phase-out of these credits beyond what was established in H.R. 1.
SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee to explore regulatory improvements to Regulation A and regulatory framework for finders. While the advisory committee’s recommendations are not binding on the commission, they align with Chairman Atkins’s focus on capital formation and signal areas we could see SEC action.
SEC fraud enforcers keep pace under Trump despite crypto retreat. The SEC has kept pace with the same volume of cases compared to the previous administration. The agency hasn’t shifted off of enforcement, but rather has shifted focus to fraud and investor harm over foot faults.
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