Atkins to Staff: Draft Crypto Custody Proposal for Advisers

SEC Chair Paul Atkins directed staff to draft a proposal allowing investment advisers, under certain conditions, to self-custody crypto assets or use state trust companies as custodians, framing it as the third pillar of a comprehensive digital asset regulatory architecture.

Speaking at the Solana Policy Institute Summit in Washington, D.C., Mr. Atkins said the forthcoming custody framework would join the SEC's recent proposals on crypto asset offerings and transfer agent modernization to clarify how digital assets are issued, traded, transferred, and held.

Mr. Atkins said the custody proposal would address questions that "continually plague" venture capital and asset management firms: self-custody by advisers, and the use of state trust companies as custodians, a pathway he said "already works in practice."

Reprising his case for the SEC's proposed 91 FR 54510 ("Regulation Crypto Assets") (see prior coverage), Mr. Atkins said the central question in public feedback has been when a "covered investment contract" ceases to exist once an entrepreneur completes promised managerial efforts. He also highlighted 91 FR 56946 ("Transfer Agent Rules"), the SEC's recent proposal to streamline and modernize its transfer agent rules (see prior coverage). Mr. Atkins said those rules were written for a world of paper stock certificates, and pointed to tokenized shares and the arriving "onchain securities" moment.

Mr. Atkins urged Congress to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, saying it addresses the challenge of current law on covered investment contracts. He added that "with or without" the legislation, the Administration would deliver for investors and innovators. Mr. Atkins spoke the evening before the Senate's September 15, 2026, failure to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the legislation.