The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules to update how investment advisers and regulated funds hold assets, with a big focus on crypto.
In a statement Thursday, the Wall Street watchdog said it would allow advisers and funds acting through their advisers, to hold client crypto themselves, but only if no permitted custodian is available.
Regulators are pushing ahead with rulemaking for the digital asset space despite lawmakers blocking the Clarity Act last month.
The long-awaited legislation — a framework for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or payment stablecoins — didn’t get the votes needed to advance.
“Since the advent of Bitcoin in 2008, the crypto asset market has grown from a niche curiosity into a multi-trillion-dollar asset class to which investors actively seek exposure. Unfortunately, our rules and regulations have not kept pace,” SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said in a statement.
“To that end, today’s proposal would provide a clear regulatory framework for the custody of crypto assets, giving investment advisers and funds a compliant pathway where none existed before — and replacing the grey of uncertainty created by custody rules crafted for a bygone era.”
The regulator said in its proposed rules that records kept on a blockchain could count toward compliance, subject to conditions.
It added that it would allow use of state trust companies as custodians for client and regulated fund crypto assets, subject to conditions.
Lawmakers blocked the Clarity Act in a procedural vote last month. Regulators had said before the vote that regardless of whether the landmark legislation passed, they’d still start regulating the crypto industry.
The SEC before the vote sent a proposal to the White House aiming to “clarify the framework for the custody of crypto assets” for investment advisers and companies.
Pro-crypto Atkins said he would still work to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” regardless of the landmark legislation getting through.