This is consistent with the general direction of the SEC, which is to lessen the burdens on companies that have recently gone public, and so to encourage more companies to go public.  

This is the latest development in a very imaginative initiative that had been championed by, among others, former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo: to reward private businesses for going after hackers in a manner akin to rewarding privateers for going after pirates. See . See also . As we noted in that prior news item, Hollywood should be all over this.

There is lots of blame to go around in reaching this situation. The CFTC should have been calling out for congressional action rather than taking it for granted that it had total national jurisdiction over all event contracts, notwithstanding both the legal ambiguity and broad political disagreement. The demands that New York State is making are equally unmeasured.

The best that can be hoped for is that in the short term, judges reach decisions that moderate the damage to both sides…

The SEC had a very uncharacteristic relationship with the proxy advisory firms during Gary Gensler's term as chair. In 2021, Mr. Gensler, of his own authority and without formal commission approval, killed regulations that were to come into effect in order to regulate proxy advisers. (See .) Reducing regulation is an act that was wholly unusual for Mr. Gensler, and he never explained why he took the actions that he did.