The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a custody framework on October 1, capping a two-month stretch in which nine separate federal actions reshaped the regulatory pathway for crypto assets, from fundraising through safekeeping.
The proposal would permit self-custody in certain circumstances and recognize state trust companies as custodians, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins called it “a compliant custody path where none existed before.” The framework will accept public comment for 60 days.
The nine actions span August 18 through October 1 and cover fundraising, trading, clearing, and custody. Four measures are usable immediately: the SEC’s Innovation Exemption for tokenized stocks on qualifying venues, CFTC staff relief for passive software providers, a CFTC FAQ update for covered registrants, and the registration of Coinbase Clearing LLC to clear fully collateralized futures, options on futures, and swaps.
Three actions remain pending final rules: the SEC’s Regulation Crypto Assets proposal (issued August 18), a transfer-agent proposal (issued September 1), and the custody proposal. Regulation Crypto Assets would exempt certain tokenized-stock offerings up to $5 million over four years or $75 million in any 12-month period.
The Innovation Exemption lasts five years and is limited to tokenized stocks on qualifying venues. The SEC issued it on September 17 after Atkins announced it on August 18.
The CFTC sent its market framework to White House review on September 17 and has not yet published it. The SEC published FAQs on token functionality on September 25 and updated them on September 28. The agency describes FAQs as staff views that leave the law as written.
Congress has not resolved the boundary between SEC and CFTC authority. The Senate rejected cloture on the CLARITY Act on September 15 by a 49-50 vote, falling one vote short of the 60 required to advance the bill, which would have allocated SEC-CFTC authority and set market-wide rules for secondary trading of digital commodities.
Atkins stated in August that legislation is “indispensable” for rules that outlast future regulators.
Bitcoin institutional adoption continues to advance. Citigroup raised its 12-month Bitcoin price forecast to $113,000 from a prior $82,000 forecast. Bitcoin traded at $84,600 at an unspecified time in the period. CoinShares’ August survey found digital-asset allocations at 1.2% among respondents, with regulation cited as the top concern among invested participants. Citigroup projects tokenization could reach $2.7 trillion to $8.2 trillion by 2030.
