SEC Chairman Paul Atkins wants to make going public less painful for young companies

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins wants to be very clear about something: his agency’s job is to set the rules of the game, not decide who wins it. That distinction carries real weight when the number of publicly traded US companies has dropped roughly 40% since the mid-1990s.

The “Make IPOs Great Again” playbook

Atkins isn’t just diagnosing the problem. He’s proposed a concrete set of reforms under what’s being called the “Make IPOs Great Again” initiative.

The centerpiece: a new optional semiannual reporting framework using something called Form 10-S. Instead of filing quarterly 10-Q reports, companies could choose to report every six months.

The SEC proposed these rules in May 2026, with comments due by July 27, 2026. The idea is to lower the compliance burden enough that growth-stage companies stop looking at public markets like a trap they’d rather avoid.

Beyond the reporting cadence change, the initiative also targets disclosure frameworks. Atkins wants disclosures refocused on materiality, meaning companies would only need to report information that actually matters to investors.

The broader agenda rests on three pillars: focusing disclosures on materiality, depoliticizing shareholder meetings, and providing alternatives to what Atkins characterizes as frivolous litigation.

Why this matters for markets

A July 7, 2026, statement on the SEC’s regulatory agenda outlined these ongoing rulemaking efforts and tied them explicitly back to the agency’s statutory mission: protecting investors, enabling capital formation, and ensuring market fairness.

What crypto investors should watch

The current reform push is focused squarely on traditional equity markets. There are no direct references to digital assets or cryptocurrency in the agenda Atkins has outlined.

The 40% decline in publicly traded companies didn’t happen overnight, and reversing it won’t either. The comment period closing July 27 will be the first real test of whether the industry supports the proposed rules.

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