Next for the U.S. SEC: Agency’s chief crypto counsel illuminates path for custody

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is blazing through much of its crypto agenda, trying to nail down a U.S. regulatory structure in the absence of a solution from Congress, its rules for the proper custody of crypto assets are coming soon.

The SEC has a proposal for custody for investment firms under White House review and one for broker-dealers in the pipeline, and Taylor Lindman, chief counsel of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, said the effort is meant to allow the market to “understand how you can carry a non-security crypto asset within a broker-dealer without needing some special registration” and to make clear for investment advisers where they can park client assets, such as in a state-chartered trust.

“The big picture with this is we’re trying to assimilate the existing securities intermediaries and our existing market participants into a world where they feel comfortable utilizing blockchain, even holding crypto assets, transacting crypto assets, and that includes crypto assets that are securities as well as crypto assets that are non-securities,” Lindman said Tuesday at the CoinDesk Policy & Regulation event in Washington.