The SEC's rewrite of custody rules for investment advisers and investment companies entered White House review on Aug. 25, introducing a crypto-focused framework after the agency withdrew a separate 2023 safeguarding proposal. No text of the new rule is public yet, and the SEC targets October 2026 for a formal proposal.
Custody Rewrite Reaches OIRA Review
The Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rewrite of custody rules for investment advisers and investment companies entered White House review on Aug. 25, placing a new crypto-focused framework in front of regulators after the agency withdrew a separate 2023 safeguarding proposal. The SEC's 2026 regulatory agenda says the planned rule would clarify how advisers and investment companies can custody crypto assets under Commission requirements.
Under the current adviser rule, a qualified custodian must generally hold client funds and securities in separate client accounts, or in accounts an adviser holds as agent or trustee. The new agenda covers both adviser client assets and investment-company fund assets, and the SEC says it intends to remove burdens from provisions it considers outdated. Regulatory review data lists the rule, RIN 3235-AN46, at the proposed-rule stage with an Aug. 25 date.
No Rule Text Public Yet
Neither the OIRA entry nor the SEC agenda provides proposed rule text. The agenda says advisers and investment companies have raised questions about holding crypto assets under current custody requirements, but it does not specify which entities would qualify to custody crypto or which existing provisions the SEC would remove.
Replaces a Withdrawn 2023 Proposal
The earlier safeguarding proposal, issued in February 2023 under a different regulatory identifier, would have kept qualified custodians while broadening the adviser rule beyond funds and securities to all client assets, including crypto. It also proposed protections meant to segregate client assets and shield them if a custodian became insolvent, along with updated recordkeeping requirements.
It formally withdrew that proposal in June 2025 and said any future action in the area would require a new proposed rule. Instead, the current agenda targets October 2026 for a notice of proposed rulemaking and lists no legal deadline.
Source: The Defiant
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