Best Practice Newsletter – January 2026

NYSE Develops Tokenized Securities Platform

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this month announced that it has developed a tokenized securities platform that will enable 24/7 trading, fractional share purchases, and instant on‑chain settlement, marking one of the most significant modernizations of U.S. market infrastructure in decades.

he NYSE, part of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), said it will seek regulatory approval for the new platform, which will support both tokenized versions of traditionally issued equities and ETFs as well as securities natively issued in digital form.

The NYSE announcement comes amid a broader regulatory shift in Washington. In December 2025, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said modernizing U.S. securities markets to accommodate digital assets was a top priority, emphasizing that the agency must “ensure market structure evolves to support tokenization, real‑time settlement, and new forms of capital formation.” Atkins said that U.S. markets should lead, not follow, in adopting on‑chain infrastructure.

In his remarks before the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee in early December, Atkins outlined his goal to bring innovation and modernization to the capital markets, stating that the tokenization of financial assets, including securities, “have the potential to transform our capital markets,” and would “give investors innovative new choices”.

Tokenized shareholders on the NYSE platform will retain full dividend and governance rights, and access will be offered on a non‑discriminatory basis to qualified broker‑dealers.

The initiative is a core element of ICE’s digital strategy, which includes preparing its clearinghouses for around‑the‑clock operations and exploring tokenized collateral. ICE is working with major banks, including BNY and Citi, to support tokenized deposits that would allow clearing members to move funds outside traditional banking hours.

For more information:

https://ir.theice.com/press/news-details/2026/The-New-York-Stock-Exchange-Develops-Tokenized-Securities-Platform/default.aspx

AND

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-remarks-iac-120425

Signature Collection Begins

California Billionaire Wealth Tax

California voters may soon weigh in on one of the most sweeping tax proposals in state history: a one‑time 5% wealth tax on residents with more than $1 billion in wealth. The tax would be payable in 2027. The ballot initiative measure, currently in signature gathering stage, was analyzed by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), which outlined both the structure of the tax and its far‑reaching fiscal implications. (see link below)

The ballot Initiative officially is known as the “2026 Billionaire Tax Act” (Initiative No. 25-0024).

According to the LAO, California is home to “a few hundred” billionaires, many of whom built fortunes in the state’s technology sector. Wealth, the LAO notes, reflects the total value of assets accumulated over a lifetime, such as stocks, businesses, and investments, minus debts. Under the proposal, real estate, pensions, and retirement accounts would be excluded from the tax base.

The initiative would require billionaires living in California on January 1, 2026 to pay the tax, with an option to spread payments over five years at a higher total cost. Ninety percent of all revenue would be earmarked for public healthcare services, with the remainder directed to the administration of the wealth tax, education, and food assistance. The LAO notes that these funds would not go toward schools or building rainy‑day reserve requirements.

The measure, backed primarily by SEIU‑UHW (Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West), will need to gather approximately 875,000 valid signatures by June 24, 2026 to qualify for the November 2026 ballot. Supporters frame the tax as an emergency response to looming federal health‑care funding cuts.

Opposition is led by Governor Gavin Newsom, who argues the measure is poorly drafted and risks accelerating the departure of high‑net‑worth residents, an outcome he warns could destabilize the state’s tax base. Tech investors such as David Sacks have also publicly criticized the proposal.

According to the LAO, the fiscal effects of the Billionaire Tax are as follows:

Short‑Term

• Tens of billions of dollars in temporary state revenue, collected over several years beginning in 2027.
• Significant administrative costs, potentially tens of millions annually, to calculate and collect the tax.
• Revenue volatility, given billionaire behavior and fluctuating stock‑based wealth.

Long‑Term

• Ongoing decline in state income tax revenues, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars per year, if billionaires relocate or restructure assets.
• Reduced general‑fund resources for education, healthcare, prisons, and other services once temporary wealth‑tax revenues expire.

For more information: https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-024

US Tax Sovereignty

Treasury Secures Pillar Two Carve‑Out

Marking a significant shift in the international tax landscape, U.S. multinational companies will now be exempt from the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development‘s (OECD) global minimum tax regime.

In 2021, the Biden administration agreed to the OECD’s “Pillar Two” deal where member nations all agreed to impose a 15% global minimum tax framework for large multi-national enterprises within their respective borders.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced this month that a new agreement with the OECD has been reached and that it fulfills President Trump’s Day One executive order declaring that the prior administration’s Pillar Two commitments “would have no force or effect for the United States.”

Bessent said Treasury, working closely with Congress, secured an arrangement under which U.S.-headquartered companies “remain subject to only U.S. global minimum taxes while exempting them from Pillar Two.”

“This side‑by‑side agreement recognizes the tax sovereignty of the United States over the worldwide operations of U.S. companies and the tax sovereignty of other countries over business activity within their own borders,” Bessent said. He added that the deal protects the value of the U.S. research and development credit and other congressionally approved incentives intended to support domestic investment and job creation.

For more information: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0350

 WEINBERG NEWS

Weinberg Sponsors DealFlow Discovery Conference

WEINBERG is sponsoring the DealFlow Discovery Conference, January 28-29, at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City.

Our appearance at DealFlow “represents our commitment to supporting the financial reporting and compliance needs of micro- and small-cap companies,” said Corey Fischer, Firm Managing Partner. “A number of our public company clients will be presenting.”

The Discovery Conference brings together public and private companies, investors, and dealmakers for two days of company presentations and expert discussions on raising capital.