The SEC has rescinded SAB 121, striking off obstacles for banks to custody Bitcoin and crypto, signaling a fundamental shift in crypto law.
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Securities and Trade Commission (SEC) has officially rescinded Workers Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 121, a controversial rule that had long hindered banks from providing bitcoin and crypto custody services and products. This pass, launched on Thursday, indicators a big shift in the SEC’s manner to regulating bitcoin and crypto and paves the manner for increased financial integration.
Introduced in March 2022 below dilapidated SEC Chair Gary Gensler, SAB 121 required institutions keeping bitcoin and crypto property for prospects to file those holdings as liabilities on their steadiness sheets. This accounting identical previous created fundamental operational and financial burdens for banks and custodians, effectively discouraging them from providing bitcoin-related services and products. The guideline changed into as soon as broadly criticized by the crypto change and lawmakers, with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce famously calling it a “pernicious weed” in April 2023.
“Bye, bye SAB 121! It’s no longer been fun,” Peirce wrote in a post on X (previously Twitter) on Thursday, following the SEC’s issuance of Workers Accounting Bulletin No. 122, which formally rescinds the steering.
The SEC’s pass to rescind SAB 121 comes actual days after Gensler’s resignation and marks the beginning of a recent era below Republican leadership. Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda, who assumed the role on Monday, presently launched the formation of a crypto project force led by Peirce to craft clearer and extra gleaming regulatory frameworks for the change.
“To this point, the SEC has relied totally on enforcement actions to control crypto retroactively and reactively, incessantly adopting novel and untested moral interpretations along the manner,” the agency acknowledged in a bid on Tuesday.
With the removal of SAB 121, predominant banks in the in the intervening time are expected to pass presently to combine bitcoin and crypto custody services and products into their choices. This is a big milestone in the financialization of bitcoin, bringing it nearer to mainstream adoption.
Vivek has been alive to on Bitcoin since he chanced on it in 2016. He also runs a Bitcoin advertising and marketing agency, Bitgrow Lab, and he dilapidated to work at a Bitcoin VC fund, Lightning Ventures. He loves deliver, advertising and marketing, startups, and writing. He’s an EU recordsdata reporter for Bitcoin Journal.
