Cryptocurrencies are fundamentally changing the traditional financial system, but regulators are not keeping up. At this point, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action. The SEC has begun a series of critical meetings to clarify regulations regarding digital assets.
The first meeting took place on April 11. However, the second meeting is the most important one: the meeting to be held on April 25, 2025 (Today). The main agenda of this meeting is how and where crypto assets will be stored.
Crypto Storage on the Table
This meeting, organized as part of the SEC's "Crypto Clarity Spring Offensive" project, will last approximately four hours. At the event, big names in the financial sector, government officials and legal experts will come together to exchange ideas on "crypto storage," one of the biggest problems in the sector.
Who is on the Panels?
The meeting focuses on two fundamental questions regarding crypto custody:
1. Crypto Custody with Broker-Dealers
This panel will feature industry figures such as Jason Allegrante from Fireblocks, Rachel Anderika from Anchorage Digital Bank, Terrence Dempsey from Fidelity
Digital Assets, and Mark Greenberg from Kraken. The legal and practical aspects of custodying crypto assets with the broker-dealer model will be discussed.
2. Custody Obligations of Investment Advisors
The other panel will address the issue from a more legal perspective. Legal experts such as Justin Browder from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Neel Maitra from Dechert, Ryan Louvar from WisdomTree, and Adam Levitin from Georgetown University will speak here. In particular, the incompatibility of current rules with the crypto world will be discussed.
Top Names Open
One of the details that makes the meeting important is the participation of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins in person.
Chairman Atkins will be joined by Crypto Task Force Chief Richard Gabbert and SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce, Caroline Crenshaw and Mark Uyeda.
Atkins’ participation is considered the biggest indicator that the SEC is taking this issue seriously.
Why is this meeting so critical?
The SEC’s traditional rules do not fit well with the decentralized and always-on crypto world. This meeting could be one of the first steps for new regulations that will address this incompatibility.
- It could form the basis for updating regulations.
- Sustainable solutions to custody issues will be discussed.
- Important signals will be given to understand the SEC’s general approach.
This meeting is more than a simple meeting for the crypto sector: It could determine the future of the sector.
The SEC’s Impact So Far
The SEC has issued both fines and regulatory guidance on crypto to date. However, the industry often criticizes the SEC’s stance as “first impose fines, then make rules.” These meetings
present an important opportunity to change this approach.
What’s Next?
The roundtables will continue and the upcoming sessions will include:
• May 12, 2025: Tokenization
• June 6, 2025: DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
These events will set the SEC’s roadmap for crypto regulation.
SEC Prepares to Change the Rules
This meeting, which will take place today, will delve into one of the most critical issues in the crypto industry: custody.
Chairman Atkins’ personal participation increases the importance of the meeting. Even if the rules do not change immediately after the meeting, it is certain that clear messages will be sent to the market. Therefore, everyone involved in the crypto world should closely follow this meeting and its results.
