SEC Chair Paul Atkins said on October 2 that additional crypto regulatory proposals will follow the agency's recently introduced custody framework, positioning the rule as the first building block in a broader digital-asset agenda for U.S. markets.

Atkins's comments, reported by Watcher.Guru, indicate the SEC's rulemaking pipeline for crypto assets remains active under his leadership.

What does the proposed custody rule cover?

The proposal addresses how investment advisers and regulated funds hold crypto assets on behalf of clients. The SEC had earlier formally proposed the framework as part of its broader crypto rulemaking.

By establishing a qualified-custody standard for digital assets, the rule would narrow the pool of institutions eligible to serve as custodians for regulated advisers and registered funds. It would also force advisers holding client crypto to confirm their custodian meets the new standard.

What did Atkins signal is coming next?

Atkins confirmed that additional rulemaking proposals will follow the custody framework. He did not identify which segments of the crypto market the next proposals would target.

The chair's framing leaves several areas open for future rulemaking:

• Exchange and trading-platform oversight
• Lending, staking, and yield-bearing products
• Token classification and disclosure requirements
• Custody standards for non-advisory firms

Each has surfaced repeatedly in recent SEC and CFTC commentary on digital-asset policy, suggesting the rulemaking pipeline will extend well beyond custody.

How does this fit Atkins's regulatory posture?

Atkins has consistently emphasized clearer rulemaking over enforcement-led regulation since taking the SEC chair role. That posture contrasts with the prior commission's approach to crypto, which leaned heavily on enforcement actions.

Institutional asset managers and trade groups have pressed for explicit custody standards as a precondition for broader adoption of crypto by registered funds and pension allocators. A formal rule would give those allocators a compliance roadmap and reduce legal uncertainty around holding digital assets.

What about parallel work at the CFTC?

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has separately signaled it will continue drafting crypto rules under its existing statutory authority. Two federal market regulators are now writing rules for digital assets in parallel, raising the prospect of jurisdictional overlap on trading, margin, and token classification.

That overlap will likely require coordination between the SEC and CFTC on which agency regulates which digital-asset activities, particularly for tokens that may not fit neatly under either agency's mandate.

What is the operational timeline?

The SEC has not published a formal timetable for the additional proposals. Comment periods on the custody proposal typically run 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, with finalization and any compliance dates set after that review window.

For advisers already holding client crypto assets, the practical step is to map existing custody arrangements against the rule's evolving definition of qualified custody well before any compliance date takes effect.