Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Nothing

I always try to put the most interesting clip of the day here at the top, but I’m not doing that today out of protest because nothing qualifies.

Finra Faces Constitutional Challenges After Appeal Ducks Issues

The self-regulatory organization responsible for member broker-dealers under federal law, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is facing a number of constitutional challenges in the lower court following a federal appeals court decision in Washington late last year.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued the first successful blow to Finra’s enforcement power in Alpine Securities Corp. v. FINRA. A 2-1 panel agreed Nov. 22 with member firm Alpine Securities Corp. that Finra’s expedited proceeding against the broker-dealer—which would allow “FINRA to expel Alpine with no opportunity for SEC review”—likely violates the private nondelegation doctrine. That doctrine requires that a private actor that Congress gives a regulatory role must be supervised by a government actor.

In issuing this narrow decision, which applies only to Finra expedited proceedings, the court declined to address many of Alpine’s broader and more consequential constitutional arguments. These open issues will now be litigated in the lower court and, if successful, could severely limit Finra’s securities enforcement authority.

SEC lawyers exempt from Trump list demand in possible firing reprieve, memo says

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers may be exempt from a demand by the Trump administration asking for a list of staff who are still on probation, according to a memo seen by Reuters, in a sign that they may get a reprieve from any mass firings.

Republican President Donald Trump has used his early days in office to shrink, purge and remake the U.S. federal government, and federal agency heads have been asked to identify employees on probationary periods, or who have served less than two years. Such employees are easier to fire.

CFTC Acting Chair Pham Removes the HR Head Investigating Her

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s acting chair, Caroline Pham, removed the agency’s head of human resources, who was leading an internal investigation into staff complaints against Pham for creating a hostile work environment, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Pham replaced HR head Marti Tracy with the CFTC’s chief diversity officer, Tanisha Cole Edmonds, the people said. That goes against a directive last month from the Trump administration, which ordered the staff of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices at government agencies to be placed on administrative leave.[…]

The CFTC said the allegations against Pham are “baseless” and an “attempt by disgruntled individuals that are under investigation to distract from the CFTC’s important mission.”

Crypto Course Correction at the SEC

Perhaps the clearest point of departure from prior Commission practice is in the Commissioner’s tone. The prior message sent to the digital assets community was often summarized as “come in and register” (or, presumably, expect to be sanctioned), notwithstanding the absence of an operational registration and regulation regime. Commissioner Peirce, in contrast, stated that “We invite builders, enthusiasts, and skeptics to engage with us to figure out what the final rules should be and what interim steps might help to foster innovation in the meantime.” It will take some time to assess the effectiveness of this approach, but many market participants will welcome the opportunity to re-engage with the Commission on a fundamental level.