WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission advances rapidly through its digital asset agenda to establish a domestic regulatory framework without legislative action from Congress, official guidelines for secure cryptocurrency safekeeping are approaching.
The SEC possesses a custody framework proposal—affecting both broker-dealers and investment firms—currently undergoing White House evaluation, according to Taylor Lindman, chief counsel for the agency’s Crypto Task Force, who explained the initiative aims to help the market comprehend how a broker-dealer can hold a non-security digital asset without extra special registration while clarifying appropriate storage locations like state-chartered trusts for investment advisers.
Lindman stated during Tuesday’s CoinDesk Policy & Regulation conference in Washington that the overarching objective is to integrate current market participants and securities intermediaries into an environment where they feel comfortable engaging with blockchain technology, executing transactions, and holding crypto assets encompassing both securities and non-securities.
Following approval from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the commission can officially present the proposal to gather feedback from the public and the sector. Meanwhile, Lindman pointed to a December staff statement serving as temporary guidance on broker-dealer crypto management until final regulations take effect, alongside a September 2025 decision permitting investment managers to utilize state-chartered trusts as qualified digital asset custodians.
An earlier SEC attempt to introduce a custody rule in 2023 occurred under a substantially different administration, when then-Chair Gary Gensler asserted that crypto companies themselves would not be eligible to safeguard those assets. Ultimately, that proposal never reached final status and was discarded after President Donald Trump came back to office and installed crypto-supportive leadership at the regulatory body.
Discussing the broader scope of the agency’s digital asset initiatives—which recently featured a proposed rule permitting digital asset offerings and a fresh exemption designed to facilitate tokenized securities marketplaces—Lindman described the efforts as laying a foundation, noting that foundation laying can sometimes be unexciting.
Lindman remarked that these are standard procedures involved in taking what used to be a terrifying and unique asset class and establishing perspectives on stablecoins or non-security crypto assets, ultimately creating a lasting structure for future generations by addressing the market on its own terms.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/22/next-for-the-u-s-sec-agency-s-chief-crypto-counsel-illuminates-path-for-custody.
