The White House is reviewing an SEC proposal addressing how broker-dealers handle crypto assets, Cointelegraph reported on November 6. As of November 6, 2026, the government's regulatory-review listing records the proposal as pending, with a November 3 receipt date.
The package concerns financial responsibility and recordkeeping, putting the operating rules behind crypto brokerage services under review. For firms serving the United States market, those rules affect the conditions under which they hold assets and maintain their books.
The proposed-rule review brings no approval or change to customer protections. It does bring several parts of the brokerage business under examination together.
Capital and customer assets enter the same review
The initiative carries regulatory identifier 3235-AN48. Its title is “Amendments to Broker-Dealer Financial Responsibility and Recordkeeping and Reporting Rules Regarding Crypto Assets.”
The SEC's regulatory agenda entry identifies Rules 15c3-1 and 15c3-3, other financial responsibility rules, and Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4 as the provisions under consideration. The entry describes an effort to address their application to crypto assets.
That combination puts brokerage finances alongside custody and records. It suggests the SEC is treating crypto handling as a question of how a brokerage operates: a firm needs to account for its own exposures while documenting the assets it carries for customers.
The review listing classifies the action as economically significant and gives no legal deadline. The classification concerns the regulatory action's expected significance.
For brokers, the commercial stakes lie in the eventual requirements. A package spanning financial responsibility and records could affect several internal processes at once. The published agenda sets out that breadth but leaves the direction of individual amendments open.
Existing guidance separates brokerage access from protection
The SEC staff's current crypto FAQs explain the starting point. Paragraph (b) of Rule 15c3-3 applies to securities carried for customers or other brokers' proprietary accounts. It does not apply to crypto assets that are not securities.
The FAQs also say broker-dealer custody and capital requirements do not prohibit participation in in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto exchange-traded products. Brokers taking proprietary positions in the underlying assets must account for those positions in their net capital calculations.
For bitcoin and ether, staff would not object to treating proprietary positions as readily marketable when determining whether the commodities framework's 20% haircut applies.
A haircut here is an adjustment used to calculate capital, rather than a charge deducted from a customer's withdrawal.
The same FAQs state that SIPC does not protect customer claims for non-security crypto assets held by a member broker-dealer. Customers accessing crypto through a brokerage therefore need to understand how their assets are treated. A familiar account interface alone tells a customer little about the protection attached to a particular holding.
These are staff views without legal force. They explain existing treatment while the Commission considers amendments.
Custody already reaches beyond possession of a key
A separate December 2025 SEC staff statement on broker custody describes circumstances under which staff would not object to a broker deeming itself in physical possession of customer crypto asset securities.
The statement addresses access and transfer capability, assessments of the underlying network, and controls against theft or unauthorized use of private keys. It also describes arrangements for disruptions and transfers of assets if the broker liquidates.
Those details explain the operational problem behind the current rulemaking. Holding a private key is only one custody task. A broker also needs a plan for a network malfunction and a way to move customer assets when the business cannot continue.
For customers, that creates a specific counterparty concern: their access depends on the broker's ability to operate its custody arrangements during disruption. Readers comparing this arrangement with holding their own keys are comparing different allocations of responsibility.
The staff statement focuses on crypto asset securities and calls itself an interim step. Its concrete custody measures provide context for the pending package; which measures the Commission will adopt remains open.
Overview
The White House review advances an SEC proposal covering broker-dealer financial responsibility and crypto recordkeeping. Its stated scope reaches capital rules, customer-asset handling and business records.
Taken together, the provisions suggest a coordinated examination of brokerage operations. Existing staff material already distinguishes securities custody from non-security crypto holdings and describes operational safeguards for crypto asset securities.
The regulatory identifier is 3235-AN48. As of November 6, the government lists it as a proposed rule received on November 3 and pending review.
