Over-burdening regulated firms does not protect retail investors; it likely drives regulated firms away from even attempting to serve retail investors. It is unsurprising that retail investors are turning to unregulated sources of information, such as social media. The inevitable effect of rules such as Exchange Act Regulation Best Interest is that they likely make it impractical for regulated broker-dealers to provide investment advice to retail investors. See . The SEC's position…

This is the third recent enforcement action of this type; too many to be a coincidence.  See; .

Firms should review their employment and separation agreements.

If ICI, which is largely the investment vehicle for retail investors, finds the rulemakings too much, perhaps the SEC should take that as a strong signal that it really is too much.

The question of how digital assets held in custody should be treated for accounting purposes must begin with how the obligation to return the digital assets should be treated in the bankruptcy of the custodian. If the "owners" of the digital assets have a right to their return and the digital assets are not available to other creditors of the bankrupt custodian, then the presumption is that the digital assets should not go on the custodian's balance sheet. Conversely, if the digital assets…