SEC Chair Paul Atkins to deliver his first public remarks as the Crypto Task Force zeroes in on digital asset custody

SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins is scheduled to deliver his first public remarks focused specifically on digital asset custody in his role overseeing the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, marking a new phase in how the agency approaches the safekeeping of crypto assets within the U.S. regulatory perimeter. This appearance follows a series of 2025 policy speeches in which Atkins launched “Project Crypto,” a Commission-wide initiative to modernize U.S. securities regulation for digital assets, and directed staff to draft “clear and simple rules of the road” for crypto asset distribution, custody, and trading in line with recommendations from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. In those earlier remarks, Atkins signaled a shift away from a “regulation-by-enforcement” model toward a more proactive, rules-based framework, and emphasized that most crypto assets should not be treated as securities under federal law. Within that broader agenda, custody has emerged as a central technical and policy issue, because it determines how registered intermediaries such as broker-dealers, investment advisers, and qualified custodians can securely hold and segregate digital assets while complying with long‑standing SEC customer protection and custody rules. Atkins has previously instructed SEC staff to evaluate how to adapt and potentially modernize the existing custody regime—using both exemptive relief and rule changes—to accommodate crypto assets, expand where market participants may custody and trade them, and implement the Working Group’s recommendation to modernize SEC custody requirements. His first public remarks as Crypto Task Force chair focusing on custody are therefore expected to elaborate on how the SEC will reconcile on‑chain asset control, private key management, and decentralized finance infrastructure with traditional notions of possession, control, and fiduciary responsibility, with significant implications for exchanges, custodians, DeFi platforms, and institutional investors that require regulatory clarity before expanding their digital asset activities.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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• SEC Chairman Atkins announces “Project Crypto” - A&O Shearman (aoshearman.com)
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