Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES—Securities Regulation Daily’s top 10 developments for April 2026, (May 8, 2026)

By Rodney F. Tonkovic, J.D.

In case you missed the in-depth coverage in the April issues of Securities Regulation Daily, we have provided a recap of the most notable stories.

Spring has arrived, and the birds welcome it with cheerful song. Also welcome are other hints of rebirth and renewal as regulators emerge with reform-minded initiatives. The courts are also examining the roots of questions about issues such as jurisdiction and enforcement authority.

Many of the top stories for April reflect regulators' efforts to prune back what has become a dense thicket of regulations that have grown around their statutory mission. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, in particular, has issued a forecast for an aggressive rulemaking agenda, and while April was calm, there were a few rumbles presaging a coming storm. The SEC and CFTC agreed in March to align their efforts, and in April, the agencies offered up exemptive orders allowing cross-margining in the Treasury market and a joint proposal seeking comment on streamlining Form PF.

Predictably, the CFTC has ramped up its efforts to assert its authority over the regulation of prediction markets. The agency has filed a series of complaints and briefs asserting that state laws interfere with its regulation of prediction markets. There have also been ripple effects to these suits as the U.S. Senate banned prediction market trading for senators and their staff, and Illinois (one of the states sued by the CFTC) acted to limit such trading for state employees.

The issue has also reached the circuit courts, where the Third Circuit held that Kalshi was likely to win with its argument that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts New Jersey law. In the Ninth Circuit, oral argument was heard on the same issue in the context of Nevada's gambling laws.

Last, but certainly not least, the Supreme Court has also been active in the securities realm. The Court heard oral argument on the limits of disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions; here, the justices examined the SEC's explicit addition of disgorgement as a remedy following 2020's Liu v. SEC. And, briefs in a petition brought by Robinhood discuss the duty to update, an issue that has been the subject of unsuccessful petitions in the last term.

1. SEC NEWS AND SPEECHES

One year in, Atkins outlines SEC's A-C-T strategy, forecasts aggressive rulemaking agenda

One year into his third term of duty in the SEC, Chairman Paul Atkins reported in a keynote address that the SEC has ended its waywardness. Speaking before the Economic Club of Washington on April 21, 2026, Atkins described the Commission's course forward after years of "regulatory adventurism." To realign the agency with its clear and precise statutory mission, he described a new agencywide framework: Advance, Clarify, and Transform. See our full coverage.

2. SWAPS

SEC requests comment on report of security-based swap dealers’ and participants’ activity

The SEC is seeking feedback on its report prepared pursuant to an earlier directive to examine the definitions of “security-based swap dealer” (SBSD) and “major security-based swap participant” from Exchange Act Section 3(a)(71)(A) and Rule 3a71-1, with a goal of determining whether exceptions based on de minimis and other thresholds should be retained or changed. See our full coverage.

3. INVESTMENT ADVISERS

SEC and CFTC seek comment on proposed changes to Form PF designed to streamline requirements

The CFTC and SEC have teamed up to present proposed amendments to Form PF, culminating from the Commissions’ review aimed at determining how to ease reporting duties and expense for private fund advisers while preserving the form’s purpose in collecting information that aids the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) in protecting investors from risk. See our full coverage.

4. CLEARANCE AND SETTLEMENT

SEC, CFTC allow cross-margining in Treasuries

The SEC and CFTC coordinated to issue exemptive orders permitting customer cross-margining in the U.S. Treasury market. The orders enable cross-margining by dual registrants that are registered with the SEC as broker-dealers and with the CFTC as futures commission merchants. Prior to these orders, only clearing members could cross-margin futures positions cleared at CME with cash market positions cleared at FICC. See our full coverage.

5. FEDERAL PREEMPTION

CFTC continues counter-attack on prediction markets jurisdiction, sues Wisconsin

Days after suing New York and submitting an amicus brief in support of Kalshi to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, the CFTC filed a complaint against Wisconsin to once again assert its jurisdiction over the regulation of prediction markets. The suit is a response to Wisconsin’s lawsuits against Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and Coinbase, all of which are CFTC-regulated prediction markets. Along with Wisconsin and New York, the agency has sued Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois, and filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. See our full coverage.

6. FEDERAL PREEMPTION

CFTC, DOJ sue NY over prediction markets; CFTC takes Kalshi’s side against 38 attorneys general in Massachusetts appeal.

The CFTC and the U.S. Attorney General have filed a complaint in federal district court to try to block New York’s enforcement of state gambling laws against CFTC-registered prediction markets. As in similar suits against three other states, the CFTC argues that its exclusive jurisdiction under federal law preempts states from regulating event contract trading on federally regulated designated contract markets (DCMs). The CFTC is seeking injunctive relief. See our full coverage.

7. FEDERAL PREEMPTION

Third Circuit blocks New Jersey gambling enforcement against Kalshi sports trades.

A three-judge panel of the Third Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction for the Kalshi exchange against enforcement by the state of New Jersey over sports-related event contracts. In a 2-1 ruling, the panel upheld an injunction for Kalshi granted by the New Jersey district court, ruling that New Jersey’s state gambling laws directly interfere with swaps transactions offered by Kalshi in violation of the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction. See our full coverage.

8. FEDERAL PREEMPTION

Ninth Circuit hears oral argument on Nevada gambling enforcement against prediction markets.

In oral argument to the Ninth Circuit, three prediction markets operators argued that Nevada cannot regulate the sports-related trading they offer because the Commodity Exchange Act preempts Nevada’s gambling laws. Nevada called this a “severe intrusion on state sovereignty” that would force most sports gambling to take place on CFTC-regulated derivatives exchanges. See our full coverage.

9 FRAUD AND MANIPULATION

U.S.: Duty to update once again potentially coming to a theater (Supreme Court) near you.

Companies faced with liability for allegedly failing to update SEC filings to disclose risks have thus far wanted very badly to get the relevant legal questions before the Supreme Court but, like the protagonists in many classic movie scripts, they are having a hard time getting what they want. Robinhood Markets, Inc. asked the justices to clarify initial public offering (IPO) risk disclosures under the Securities Act and Regulation S-K, while the plaintiff in that case, Vinold Sodha, recently urged the justices to refrain because the Ninth Circuit supposedly got things right and more factual development is needed by the district court. Thus far, no amici have weighed in on Sodha’s side, although three groups have urged the justices to take the case, arguing that there is no duty to update and/or that allowing the Ninth Circuit opinion to stand would raise the costs of conducting IPOs and ultimately reduce the number of companies going public. See our full coverage.

10. ENFORCEMENT

Supreme Court hears oral argument on disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions.

At oral argument in Sripetch v. SEC, the Supreme Court pressed the parties on the limits of disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions. Does the SEC need to show pecuniary harm to investors? Does it trigger the right to jury trial? Do disgorged funds need to be returned to investors in all cases? See out full coverage.

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