It is not obvious that the problems smaller companies are facing today are primarily a result of our market structure. Two more obvious problems may be (i) the heavy burden of regulation that is generally associated with a company going public; and (ii) the particularly heavy regulation of investment research, which may make it too expensive (and lacking any profit opportunities) to publish research on small companies. 

As a matter of regulatory policy, this is a case that the DOL should lose. It makes zero sense for the DOL to adopt a rule that governs the interaction between securities brokers and advisers with IRA accounts, while the SEC and FINRA adopt rules that govern the interactions between securities brokers and advisers with the individuals who own those IRA accounts. How can anyone disentangle the requirements for a broker providing services that apply to an individual as a person as…

One of the questions raised by the CFTC's action is this: what does it mean to make a "delivery" in the case of commodities such as bitcoins?

Like many enforcement actions that have interesting components, this one also includes a number of mundane (which is not to say minor) components; e.g., favoring the adviser over the fund investors, inadequate disclosure, poor recordkeeping, and the improper use of fund assets.

Previously, SEC staff warned investment advisers about two situations in which an adviser could be deemed to have acted illegally as a broker-dealer: (i) when an adviser (or, more often, its employee) is…