Past Issues

On March 5, 2026, the Oregon legislature passed House Bill 4116 (“HB 4116”) providing for an opt-out of federal law applicable to state banks allowing them to export the interest rates and fees of their home state to other states for loans “made” in Oregon. The action follows the recent Tenth Circuit decision related to the Colorado legislature’s opt-out legislation. The law does not affect national banks. Where a loan is made remains uncertain in light of the Tenth Circuit decision.

On February 25, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “NPR”) to implement the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (the “GENIUS Act”), setting out proposed regulations for the issuance of and activities related to payment stablecoins by entities under the OCC’s jurisdiction. The NPR covers areas of required rulemaking by the OCC under the GENIUS Act and seeks comments on over 200 questions during a 60-day comment window ending on May 1, 2026. Each area of the NPR warrants in-depth analysis, but we highlight key provisions and encourage submission of comments to the OCC to address areas of strategic importance.

Chapman partners Juan Arciniegas, Curtis Doty, Peter Hong, and Morrison Warren co-authored an article published by Thomson Reuters / Practical Law, providing essential guidance on the rapidly evolving landscape of cryptocurrency. As digital assets continue their march into mainstream finance, a new generation of investment products is reshaping how institutions and individuals gain exposure. Navigating this space requires understanding critical distinctions that carry real consequences for performance, costs, and compliance.

The Connecticut Property Transfer Act (CPTA) is set to sunset on March 1, 2026. It will be replaced by Release-Based Cleanup Regulations (RBCRs).

On February 17, 2026, the CFTC filed an amicus brief in North American Derivatives Exchange, Inc. et al v. The State of Nevada on relation of the Nevada Gaming Control Board et al., asserting its exclusive jurisdiction over event contract markets (a.k.a., prediction markets).

Last week, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rescinded its long-standing Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and subsequent federal greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and trucks. The rescission lifts existing obligations on automobile manufacturers with respect to the measurement, control, and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. It does not explicitly change greenhouse gas emission requirements applicable to other regulated sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities. However, the rescission establishes a basis for rescinding greenhouse gas emission standards from such sources at a future date.

In a decision with significant implications for any non-lawyer who uses artificial intelligence tools to research or analyze legal matters, Judge Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in United States of America v. Heppner, 25-cr-00503-JSR, ruled on February 10, 2026 that documents generated through a public AI platform were not protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. Specifically, the Court granted the Government's motion to access documents that defendant Bradley Heppner created using the AI tool Claude before his arrest on federal fraud charges.

On January 28, 2026, the SEC Staff (the “Staff”) from the Division of Corporation Finance, the Division of Investment Management, and the Division of Trading and Markets issued a joint statement on tokenized securities. The statement builds upon and expands Commissioner Peirce’s July 2025 remarks, “Enchanting, but Not Magical,” emphasizing that innovations in tokenization should be approached as a process of regulated evolution. The statement provides the Staff’s views on tokenized versions of securities that are issued as crypto-assets and recorded on a distributed ledger technology (DLT), such as a blockchain network.

Over the past several years, out-of-court Liability Management Exercises (“LMEs”) have been utilized by struggling companies to mitigate financial distress, often by “uptiering” debt in order to gain access to augmented liquidity or to extend maturity runways. In a number of these situations, debtors have taken advantage of loose basket capacity and favorable non-pro rata and/or amendment provisions in credit agreements and indentures to subordinate older, existing credit facilities as well as a host of other disadvantages for non-participating minority lenders. This hostile dynamic has led to a number of protracted legal battles in the courtroom, including one commonly referred to as “Incora” – a contentious uptiering LME that has dominated lending headlines in recent years.

New OBBB provisions may shift how charitable deductions work in 2026 and beyond. This video explains the changes and outlines practical actions individuals can take to safeguard wealth and strengthen future charitable planning.

On December 8, 2025, the Market Participants Division, Division of Market Oversight, and Division of Clearing and Risk (collectively, “Divisions”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued guidance on the use of tokenized assets as collateral in the trading of futures and swaps. The Guidance follows a September 2025 request for comment on the use of tokenized collateral in derivatives markets, including on the recommendations made in a November 2024 report of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (“GMAC”).

Consistent with the GMAC’s recommendations, the Guidance acknowledges that CFTC regulations do not require any particular technology or operational infrastructure to transfer or hold eligible collateral, stating instead that “assets retain their margin eligibility so long as they satisfy applicable regulatory requirements”. The Guidance largely reiterates existing regulations without adding tokenization-specific standards. Nonetheless, the Guidance is significant because it reflects the Divisions’ concurrence with the GMAC’s conclusion that no changes to CFTC regulations are needed, and it identifies areas where
risk-focused analysis is expected.

This bulletin highlights certain key points in the Guidance, focusing on issues raised by the unique attributes of tokenization and considerations relevant to swap dealers subject to CFTC uncleared margin regulations.