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 after the agency withdrew a separate 2023 safeguarding proposal.
The SEC's 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 maintain them in separate client accounts or accounts held by an adviser as agent or trustee.
The new agenda covers both investment adviser client assets and investment-company fund assets, and says the SEC intends to remove burdens from provisions it considers outdated. The separate 2023 proposal focused on registered investment advisers, would have expanded the custody rule to all client assets and proposed additional protections involving segregation and custodian insolvency.
OIRA's current-review data lists RIN 3235-AN46, "Amendments to the Custody Rules," at the proposed-rule stage with an Aug. 25 date. The SEC agenda identifies the same RIN as an SEC action under the Investment Advisers Act and Investment Company Act.
The OIRA entry and SEC agenda provide no proposed rule text. A 2025 White House order says agencies must continue following Executive Order 12866 processes for submitting regulations to OIRA for review. For this SEC action, public records currently show the review entry and the agenda description, not the draft's provisions.
