Companies Would Need to Disclose Stablecoin Holdings-
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) wants to bring greater transparency to corporate cash reporting, voting to propose that companies disclose significant Stablecoin holdings as part of their annual cash‑equivalent disclosures. The decision, made during FASB’s April 15, 2026 meeting, marks the board’s most concrete step yet toward clarifying how digital assets fit into traditional accounting categories.
Under the proposal, companies would be required to break out the dollar amounts of the major components of their cash equivalents: short‑term, highly liquid investments with maturities of three months or less. These typically include money‑market funds, Treasury Bills, and commercial paper. Stablecoins could join that list, if they meet specific criteria: the holder must have a contractual right to redeem the token directly with the issuer for a known amount of cash, and the coin must be backed by sufficiently liquid reserves.
FASB officials said the proposal would apply broadly to any company with cash equivalents on its balance sheet, not just crypto‑focused firms.
If adopted, companies holding material amounts of Stablecoins would need to disclose them as a distinct class, similar to commercial paper or money‑market funds. What constitutes a “significant” amount would remain a matter of management judgment.
The board also plans to solicit public feedback for 90 days once the proposal is issued. The project was added to FASB’s agenda in October after companies and investors urged the board to prioritize guidance on Stablecoins, particularly following enactment of the GENIUS Act, which established federal oversight for payment Stablecoins but left accounting treatment unresolved.
Separately, the board discussed whether to broaden existing rules to cover “wrapped tokens,” which represent crypto assets across blockchains. A proposal is expected later.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently proposed amendments that would sharply restrict when broker‑dealers may publish or submit price quotations for securities if the issuing company has not made current, basic information publicly available.
The proposal targets a longstanding gap in the over‑the‑counter (OTC) market, where many thinly traded and micro‑cap securities circulate with little or no reliable disclosure.
The rule would modify Exchange Act Rule 15c2‑11, which governs when broker‑dealers can quote securities in OTC markets. Under the proposal, a broker‑dealer could not post a bid or offer, or submit that quote to an alternative trading system, unless the issuer has up‑to‑date financial statements and key corporate information accessible to the public. In practical terms, this means that if a company’s disclosures are outdated, incomplete, or unavailable, market makers would be barred from quoting its stock.
The SEC made clear that the proposal is aimed at the OTC market, not at companies listed on national securities exchanges such as Nasdaq or the NYSE. Exchange‑listed issuers are already subject to robust, continuous reporting obligations and exchange‑level listing standards, meaning they must maintain current financial disclosures to remain listed. As a result, the rule would have little to no direct impact on exchange‑traded companies.
For thinly traded and micro‑cap issuers in the OTC market, however, the consequences could be significant. Many rely on broker‑dealer quotations to maintain even minimal liquidity. If they fail to keep current information publicly available, their securities could effectively disappear from quoted markets, making trading more difficult, widening spreads, and reducing investor participation.
The SEC said the proposal is designed to curb fraud and manipulation in the least transparent corners of the market, where investors often have limited visibility into issuer operations.
The SEC is seeking comments on the proposed rule, with a deadline set for May 18, 2026.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) just released fiscal year 2025 enforcement results reaffirmed its deliberate reset under new Chair Paul Atkins: a return to investor‑focused policing after what it characterizes as years of headline‑driven actions under the prior administration.
In its April news release, the Commission’s leadership framed the shift as a course correction: away from enforcement campaigns that emphasized large penalty totals and “novel legal theories”, and back toward what it views as the agency’s core mission: pursue cases that directly target fraud, market manipulation, and abuses of trust that inflict measurable harm on investors.
According to the SEC, earlier enforcement efforts too often “prioritized volume and record-setting penalties” and pursuing expansive interpretations of securities laws that generated splashy settlements but offered little in the way of “true investor protection”.
In contrast, the current Commission said that its 456 enforcement actions in FY 2025 were concentrated on misconduct such as offering frauds, insider trading, market manipulation, and fiduciary breaches; areas it says reflect Congress’s original intent for the agency’s mandate. The SEC emphasized that these cases typically require more time and resources to develop and therefore do not produce the volume of actions seen in recent years.
By comparison, the SEC said that under the previous administration, nearly 100 enforcement actions were tied to recordkeeping violations and off-channel communications. Those cases, along with several crypto‑related registration and “dealer definition” actions, were cited as examples of enforcement that identified no direct investor harm. The Commission also noted that it has since dismissed several high‑profile crypto cases initiated by its predecessors, describing them as misinterpretations of federal securities laws.
“FY 2025 was a unique period of transition for the enforcement division, never experienced before in modern SEC history,” said the Commission. “It was characterized by an unprecedented rush to bring a significant number of cases in advance of the presidential inauguration and the aggressive pursuit of novel legal theories under the prior Commission.”
A central theme of the report was heightened accountability for individual wrongdoers. Nearly two‑thirds of standalone actions included charges against individuals, a 27 percent increase from the prior year. The SEC also barred 119 individuals from serving as officers or directors of public companies, underscoring what it described as a renewed focus on personal responsibility in corporate misconduct.
The Commission underscored its continued focus on retail investor protection, cross‑border fraud, insider trading, and market‑abusive trading practices. The Commission further noted a shift in its approach to emerging technologies, including crypto assets. Rather than using enforcement to set policy, officials said they are concentrating on fraud and market‑abusive conduct while allowing broader regulatory questions to be addressed through rulemaking and public engagement.
For additional information about particular SEC enforcement actions and penalties in FY 2025 see:
The IRS has finalized its latest “no tax on tips” deduction regulations and released it all just days before the April 15 filing deadline. March Madness was last month; it’s now April Amendments.
The final IRS amendments add three new occupations to the list of jobs eligible for the deduction: Floral Designers, Visual Artists, and Gas Pump Attendants.
So, with these additional categories, the list now includes a robust 71 occupations, proving that tax policy can indeed be oddly specific.
Digital assets still don’t qualify as cash tips, which means your neophile friend who insists on tipping in crypto remains ahead of the early adopter curve but behind on tax code. However, the IRS says it may revisit this once it fully implements the GENIUS Act, a law enacted by Congress in 2025 which establishes a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. In short, the GENIUS Act is Congress’s attempt to make Stablecoins stable, and maybe even understandable.
If you’re still not clear about all this, not to worry, the new federal “No Tax on Tips” provision is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2028.
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