On Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s springtime roundtable series on crypto is gearing up to tackle a critical challenge — crypto custody — featuring panelists from Fidelity, Kraken, and Fireblocks.
“Crypto custody is often taken for granted, until it fails,” Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s Global Head of Consumer and a participant in the SEC roundtable, told TheStreet Crypto. “In reality, securely holding digital assets is highly complex — and only a handful of firms have the infrastructure, security protocols, and expertise required to sufficiently protect crypto assets.”
The roundtable — titled “Know Your Custodian: Key Considerations for Crypto Custody” — will focus on promoting innovation in the sector amid growing security risks, and will feature panel discussions on broker-dealer frameworks, investment adviser compliance, and more.
Some in the crypto space are hopeful that the regulator will define the term custodians to avoid ambiguity or looming regulatory trouble: “A clear definition of what constitutes a digital asset custodian should come first,” Przemyslaw Kral, CEO at Zondacrypto, told TheStreet Crypto. “This definition should not be based on existing financial models and must take into account the unique nuances of different cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and associated custody methods. Only once clear definitions of custody and custodians are produced can rules be made to regulate them.”
The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework offers one example. “It provides clear rules for crypto businesses by defining asset types and classes, outlining operational standards for custody and market integrity, and setting out authorization and licensing requirements,” Kral said.
However, as the U.S. steps up its regulatory efforts in the crypto space, a key concern is interoperability. “While crypto does not have borders, designing custody rules that cannot interact with those of other jurisdictions will create barriers and could isolate U.S crypto custodians from their global counterparts,” Kral said.
