ChainCatcher news, Paul Atkins, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), issued a statement saying that the commission this week proposed to fill a rule gap between investment advisers and funds in legally custody of crypto assets, providing a clear custody framework and compliance path for asset classes with increasing client demand.
Atkins said that the current Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and a number of custody rules under the Investment Companies Act of 1940 were formed before the advent of the Internet, mainly targeting traditional assets and requiring the use of licensed custodians. The custody of new crypto-assets tends to lag behind the asset launch by several months, and this proposal is intended to address this issue while updating the custody rules for advisors and regulated funds that have not been revised in decades to accommodate current industry practices and feedback.
The proposal is part of the sec's Crypto Asset Regulation Program, the statement said. Relevant work includes the cessation of enforcement in lieu of regulation, the issuance of a no-action letter in December 2025 on the custodian trust company's securities tokenization pilot, the issuance of a tokenized securities classification note in January 2026, and subsequent initiatives on crypto-asset securities attributes, broker registration, Regulation Crypto Assets, and innovative exemptions for tokenized NMS stock trading. Atkins said more regulatory proposals would follow.