The SEC's rewrite of custody rules for investment advisers and investment companies entered White House review on Aug. 25, replacing a 2023 crypto-safeguarding proposal the agency withdrew last year. The new framework aims to clarify how advisers and funds can hold crypto assets, but no rule text has been made public yet.
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 into regulatory review. The move follows the agency's withdrawal of a separate 2023 safeguarding proposal.
A narrower approach than the 2023 proposal
Its 2026 regulatory agenda says the planned rule would clarify how investment advisers and investment companies can custody crypto assets under Commission requirements. The current adviser rule covers client funds and securities and generally requires a qualified custodian to hold them in separate client accounts, or in accounts held by an adviser as agent or trustee.
That agenda covers both investment adviser client assets and investment-company fund assets, and the SEC says it intends to remove burdens from provisions it considers outdated. The shift departs from the 2023 proposal, which focused only on registered investment advisers and would have expanded the custody rule to all client assets, including crypto, while adding protections around segregation and custodian insolvency. Regulators formally withdrew that proposal in June 2025 and said any future action in the area would need a new proposed rule.
Rule text still not public
Federal review data lists RIN 3235-AN46, "Amendments to the Custody Rules," at the proposed-rule stage with an Aug. 25 date, and the SEC agenda identifies the same RIN as an action under the Investment Advisers Act and Investment Company Act. Neither entry includes the draft's actual text, however, so the public record shows only the review entry and a general description.
The agenda says advisers and investment companies have raised questions about holding crypto assets in compliance with current custody requirements. It does not specify which entities would qualify to custody crypto, what controls would apply, or which existing provisions the SEC would remove. The current agenda targets October 2026 for a notice of proposed rulemaking, though the agency lists no legal deadline for that date.
Source: The Defiant
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