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# The SEC Is Rewriting the Rules to Get Companies Back on the Public Markets
- URL: https://millionaire-insiders.ghost.io/the-sec-is-rewriting-the-rules-to-get-companies-back-on-the-public-markets/
- Published: 2026-08-11T10:53:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-11T10:53:55.000Z
- Author: Daniel Whitmore

IPO activity is already accelerating without any rule changes. There were 99 IPOs raising more than $22 billion in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 84 deals and $11.8 billion in the same period last year, roughly an 86% jump in proceeds raised. Now the SEC wants to make going public, and staying public, meaningfully easier, with a 2026 rulemaking agenda aimed squarely at reversing the decades-long decline in the number of US public companies.  
  
The reforms on the table work from both ends of the pipeline. Registered offering reforms would extend more regulatory benefits to smaller, newly public companies, while filer status changes would reduce disclosure and attestation requirements for many larger ones. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has also floated a broader Innovation Exemption for digital asset firms and an extended two-year on-ramp for new issuers, alongside a fresh look at the size thresholds that determine which compliance tier a company falls into.

### Why the SEC is doing this now

The number of US-listed public companies has been shrinking for years, even as private markets absorbed more capital and more of the biggest, most valuable companies stayed private for far longer than they used to. That shift has real consequences for everyday investors, since staying private means retail investors are locked out of a company's highest-growth years, only getting access once an IPO finally happens, if it happens at all. The SEC's language around "reversing the decline of public companies" and "revitalizing public markets" is a direct response to that dynamic.  
  
Lighter disclosure and compliance requirements lower the fixed cost of being a public company, which matters most for the small and mid-sized businesses that used to make up a much larger share of new listings before compliance costs pushed many toward staying private or seeking a later, larger listing instead.  
  
That fixed-cost burden compounds over time for a small company in a way it doesn't for a large one. Legal, audit, and reporting costs that are a rounding error for a mega-cap can represent a meaningful share of a smaller issuer's operating budget, which is part of why so many companies that might have listed a decade ago chose to stay private and raise larger late-stage rounds instead.

### What this could mean for deal flow

Easier rules alone don't create demand for new listings, but they remove friction for companies that already want to go public and were weighing the ongoing compliance burden against staying private longer. Combined with an IPO market that's already showing real momentum this year, a lighter-touch regulatory environment could accelerate a trend that was building anyway rather than starting one from scratch.

**Whitmore's Watchlist:**  
\> **IPO** (Renaissance IPO ETF): Tracks newly public companies directly, making it the most straightforward way to get exposure to accelerating listing activity.  
\> **NDAQ** (Nasdaq, Inc.): A listing venue that benefits directly from higher IPO volume, independent of which specific companies go public.  
\> **GS** (Goldman Sachs Group): A leading underwriter positioned to capture fee income from a pickup in deal activity and capital markets work.

### The climate disclosure rollback is part of the same push

One specific piece worth flagging is the Climate Disclosure Rescission, with a public comment deadline of August 3\. Rolling back climate-related disclosure requirements is consistent with the broader deregulatory theme here, framed as reducing compliance burden rather than as a standalone policy shift. Whether that specific rule change survives the comment period and any subsequent legal challenges is still an open question, but it signals where the SEC's overall posture is heading this year.  
  
None of this changes the fundamental economics of any individual company weighing an IPO. A lighter compliance regime makes the decision easier at the margin, but it doesn't substitute for genuine investor demand or a credible growth story. What it does is lower the threshold at which that calculation tips toward going public rather than raising another private round, which is the mechanism through which regulatory easing tends to show up in deal volume over time.  
  
It's also worth remembering that easier listing rules cut both directions for investors. More companies choosing to go public sooner, rather than waiting until they're larger and more mature, means retail access to earlier-stage growth stories, but it also means less time for those businesses to prove out a durable track record before public markets are pricing them day to day.  
  
**Whitmore's Take:** A friendlier listing environment plus already-strong IPO momentum is a real setup for more new issuance over the next year, not just a regulatory footnote. Worth watching deal volume and underwriter activity as the more useful signal here, rather than the rule changes themselves.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/10/e9109ad9-55f9-4e96-a078-46af25115156/content/images/2026/08/sec-ipo-deregulation-2.jpg)

*Written by Daniel Whitmore* 
*Millionaire Insiders*