SEC Floats Crypto Custody Rules for Advisers and Funds, Opening a 60-Day Comment Window

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a framework to clarify how registered investment advisers and regulated funds can hold crypto, targeting the long-standing ambiguity over what counts as a "qualified custodian" for digital assets. The proposal was issued Wednesday — September 30, 2026 — according to Decrypt, which cited the agency's own statement.

Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, advisers must keep client assets with qualified custodians meeting strict safekeeping standards. It has not been clear which crypto arrangements clear that bar, and per Decrypt's reporting, that uncertainty kept many firms from offering digital-asset strategies at all.

The proposal would change that in several ways, as described by Decrypt: it would permit crypto to be held in self-custody under certain (unspecified) conditions, allow state trust companies to act as custodians for client and fund crypto, and update rules on financial-statement audits for advisers and broker-dealer custodial services for funds. The stated aim is to widen investor access by removing barriers that have kept advisers on the sidelines.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement quoted by Decrypt that the agency's rules "have not kept pace" with a market that has grown "from a niche curiosity into a multi-trillion-dollar asset class," and that the proposal would replace "the grey of uncertainty created by custody rules crafted for a bygone era."

The custody plan is the latest in a run of SEC actions since the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate. Decrypt reports the agency has also rolled out an "innovation exemption" permitting tokenized stocks to trade on-chain, proposed a crypto-fundraising framework it calls Regulation Crypto Assets, and had staff clarify that token buybacks don't by themselves make an asset a security.

Key facts

• Proposal issued Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, under the 1940 Investment Advisers and Investment Company Acts (Decrypt, citing the SEC).
• Would permit self-custody under certain conditions, allow state trust companies as custodians, and update adviser audit and fund broker-dealer custody rules (Decrypt).
• Not final: a 60-day public comment period opens on publication in the Federal Register, after which the SEC can revise before any adoption vote (Decrypt).

The real-world read

This is a proposal, not a rule — nothing is in force, and the specific "conditions" allowing self-custody weren't detailed in the reporting available, which is where the real fights (and lobbying) will happen over the comment period. The framing is firmly the SEC's own: Atkins' "grey of uncertainty" line and the "widen investor access" rationale are the agency selling its pivot, and the only sourcing here is Decrypt relaying the SEC's statement — no independent custodians, advisers, or critics are quoted. Worth watching whether "state trust companies" as custodians invites the same concerns raised about looser crypto-friendly charters. Judge it on the final text, not the press rollout.

Opinion, and whose

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins argues existing custody rules were "crafted for a bygone era" and that the plan would clear a path for advisers. That is the regulator's characterization of its own proposal, not an outcome.

Sources

• Decrypt (Tier 2, reputable secondary), Oct. 1, 2026 — reported the proposal's contents, the statutory basis, Atkins' quotes, and the comment-period timeline; attributed to the SEC's statement. Primary source (the SEC's proposing release) was not directly available here.

This is news, not financial advice.