In a glance: SEC Chair Atkins has instructed staff to draft a proposal—under certain conditions, allowing investment advisers (including regulated funds) to self-custody crypto assets for clients, and recognizing state trust companies as a custody pathway.
According to the SEC official speech transcript dated 2026-09-14: Atkins places this issue alongside Regulation Crypto Assets and the modernization of the transfer agent rules as one of the three pillars of “issuance—transfer—holding.” He explicitly says that many assets do not yet have qualifying third-party custodians, so the proposal needs to positively address adviser self-custody and the state trust company pathway. The wording is “a proposal is being drafted,” not that the rules have already taken effect.
Independent review: Bitcoin.com’s report on 2026-09-15, which restates the same speech, highlights the same points—(conditional) adviser self-custody + state trust companies can serve as custodians, and this is listed alongside the other two regulatory pillars.
The accompanying illustration is a self-made diagram of key regulatory points (not an official document).
Data as of: 2026-09-14 (the speech date; reviewed by Bitcoin.com on 2026-09-15)
For information-sharing only and does not constitute investment advice.
#SEC #Regulation
According to the SEC official speech transcript dated 2026-09-14: Atkins places this issue alongside Regulation Crypto Assets and the modernization of the transfer agent rules as one of the three pillars of “issuance—transfer—holding.” He explicitly says that many assets do not yet have qualifying third-party custodians, so the proposal needs to positively address adviser self-custody and the state trust company pathway. The wording is “a proposal is being drafted,” not that the rules have already taken effect.
Independent review: Bitcoin.com’s report on 2026-09-15, which restates the same speech, highlights the same points—(conditional) adviser self-custody + state trust companies can serve as custodians, and this is listed alongside the other two regulatory pillars.
The accompanying illustration is a self-made diagram of key regulatory points (not an official document).
Data as of: 2026-09-14 (the speech date; reviewed by Bitcoin.com on 2026-09-15)
For information-sharing only and does not constitute investment advice.
#SEC #Regulation
