That was fast.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s acting chair, Mark Uyeda, a Republican appointed by President Trump on his first day in office, “launched a crypto task force dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets,” the agency said on Tuesday.

The digital assets industry has been asking for regulation, and on the campaign trail, Trump said his administration would be crypto-friendly.

The newly minted task force will be tasked with developing a regulatory path for crypto, as well as improving the registration process for digital coins—the lack of which, the SEC said in its release, has led to “confusion about what is legal, which creates an environment hostile to innovation and conducive to fraud.”

While Uyeda announced the task force, SEC commissioner Hester Peirce will lead it. Uyeda’s current post is temporary: Former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins will take over on a permanent basis once confirmed.

“We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation,” Peirce said in a statement.

For more on the SEC’s new crypto task force, click here.—NP

As the war for skilled workers rages, more technology companies are prioritizing strong organizational culture, while simultaneously investing in AI and automation to replace workers, a new Grant Thornton survey found.

Talk about mixed signals.

According to the survey, a majority (58%) of tech finance leaders saw company culture as the biggest “human capital priority” in the coming 12 months, up from 45% in last year’s survey, when company culture placed third.

“In the tech industry, the mentality of growth at all costs has subsided,” Andrea Schulz, national managing partner for technology at Grant Thornton, said in a news release. “Companies can’t rely on money alone to retain their best talent. That’s not what investors are expecting. That’s why culture is becoming a key focus—it represents a much-needed refresh.”

AI takeover. Respondents indicated that AI and machine learning (58%), data analytics and business intelligence (44%), and cybersecurity (39%) are the top technologies they plan to invest in this year.

Click here to continue reading.—AZ

The locked display cases proliferating in drug stores and big box stores, as we’ve noted repeatedly, present a retail conundrum. The purpose of locked cases is to curb shoplifting, but a survey by Consumer World found that when something they wanted to buy is locked up, fewer than one in three shoppers (32%) bother to summon an employee to unlock the case; a Retail Brew reader poll found that even fewer shoppers will summon an associate in that scenario, just 19%.

So, if locking up goods apparently scuttles that many sales, is the solution worse than the shoplifting problem it’s meant to address?

Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth didn’t exactly solve that mystery on a recent earnings call, during which the company reported quarterly losses of $265 million, but he threw more shade on the locked display cases than you might expect from a company that has installed so many of them.

“When you lock things up,” Wentworth said, speaking extemporaneously in response to the last question of the call from an analyst, “you don’t sell as many of them. We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.”

Deja rue: Two years ago, on another earnings call in January 2023, James Kehoe, who was then Walgreens CFO, also admitted that the company had stumbled when it came to addressing shrink.

Click here to keep reading Retail Brew’s story on the impact of locked display cases.—AAN