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ARTICLE · 29 JANUARY 2025

SEC Clears The Way For Crypto Custody

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On January 23, 2025, barely 72 hours after the appointment of Mark Uyeda as the Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and less than 48 hours after Chairman Uyeda...

United StatesAccounting and Audit
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
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On January 23, 2025, barely 72 hours after the appointment of Mark Uyeda as the Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and less than 48 hours after Chairman Uyeda announced that Commissioner Hester Peirce would be leading a "Crypto Task Force," the Commission released Staff Accounting Bulletin 122, which effectively withdraws SAB 121 and is the first step in transforming the regulatory landscape around crypto-assets.

Background

SAB 121, issued on March 31, 2022 by the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant and the Division of Corporation Finance's Office of the Chief Accountant, was widely seen by the digital assets and investment management industries as a procedural ban on crypto-asset platforms. This flowed from SAB 121's imposition of asset-specific accounting requirements, including:

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