Wyoming Grants Two Ocean Trust Custody of Digital Assets; SEC Responds

Thursday, November 26, 2020

The U.S. Securities and Change Fee (“SEC”) issued a assertion in response to the Wyoming Division of Banking’s No-Motion Letter on Custody of Digital Belongings and Certified Custodian Standing.

in October, the Wyoming Division of Banking granted Two Ocean Belief, a Wyoming-chartered public belief firm, “no motion” reduction setting forth the primary opinion by a state or federal banking regulator to allow a monetary establishment to behave as a “certified custodian” beneath the Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”) for digital property. The no-action letter is Wyoming’s newest transfer to additional set up the state’s place because the digital asset epicenter of the U.S.

The SEC “Custody Rule” (Rule 206(4)-2 beneath the Advisers Act) requires that registered “advisers which have custody of shopper funds or securities [maintain] these property with broker-dealers, banks, or different certified custodians.” In flip, solely monetary establishments which might be deemed “certified custodians” beneath federal regulation could present custodial providers to the general public.

The Wyoming Division of Banking decided that Two Ocean Belief meets the definition of “financial institution” beneath the Advisers Act and should function a “certified custodian” for each digital and conventional property. The Wyoming Division of Banking additionally said that it “won’t advocate an investigation or enforcement motion to the SEC on these points.” Following the no-action letter, Two Ocean Belief introduced its providing of the “first complete digital asset wealth administration platform”.

In response to the Wyoming Division of Banking’s opinion, the SEC’s Workers of the Division of Funding Administration (the “Workers”), together with the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Monetary Expertise (FinHub), issued a press release to strengthen, as said by the Wyoming Division of Banking, that the no-action letter “shouldn’t be construed to symbolize the views of the SEC or every other regulatory company.”

The Workers famous that “[d]etermining who qualifies as a certified custodian is an advanced, and info and circumstances based mostly, evaluation” and that the SEC “has restricted the varieties of monetary establishments that will act as certified custodians to these establishments that possess key traits, together with being topic to intensive regulation and oversight, that assist to make sure that shopper property are adequately safeguarded.”

The Workers solicited feedback to tell and assist “employees suggestions to amend the Custody Rule”—a chance that can play a essential position within the growth of the cryptocurrency trade and the way it will function beneath state and federal regulation.