The White House regulatory review office has logged a Securities and Exchange Commission draft that would rework how broker-dealer rules apply to crypto assets, according to a federal review record. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, part of the White House Office of Management and Budget, received the draft on 3 November. Its text has not been released, so what it would change for brokerages holding crypto is not yet known.

The record lists the item as Amendments to Broker-Dealer Financial Responsibility and Recordkeeping and Reporting Rules Regarding Crypto Assets, at the proposed rule stage, under regulatory identification number 3235-AN48. It marks the draft economically significant and shows no legal deadline for action. The classification means the White House treats the action as having large enough economic effects to require review under Executive Order 12866.

According to the SEC's regulatory agenda entry for the item, the agency's Division of Trading and Markets was considering recommending that the Commission amend Rules 15c3-1 and 15c3-3, along with other broker-dealer financial responsibility rules, as well as Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4, to address the application of these rules to crypto assets. The entry cites sections 15(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act as its legal authority. Its timetable had set July 2026 for the proposal, a target that has now passed.

All four are existing rules. Rule 15c3-1 is the net capital rule for brokers and dealers, setting how much capital a brokerage must hold. Rule 15c3-3 is the customer protection rule, covering reserves and the custody of customer securities. Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4 set which records firms must make and preserve. Together these rules set how much capital a brokerage must hold, how it safeguards customer assets and what records it keeps, so how they treat crypto shapes how readily, and on what terms, broker-dealers can carry tokens alongside stocks and bonds.

Until the SEC publishes the text, the review confirms only that a draft exists and has left the agency, not what it would require. Neither the review record nor the SEC's agenda spells out what the agency would change. Once White House review is complete, the Commission would have to vote to propose it, then take public comment before any final rule could follow.

The draft is part of a wider SEC rule push under Chair Paul Atkins. The review follows the SEC's 1 October proposal of a custody framework for crypto held by registered investment advisers and regulated funds, which would also allow state trust companies to act as custodians. That custody proposal was published in the Federal Register on 6 October, with comments due by 7 December. The SEC also proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, its framework for crypto offerings, in August, and comments on that proposal closed on 20 October.

The timing is politically charged. Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress in the 3 November midterm elections and are expected to take control when the new Congress begins on 3 January 2027, creating potential obstacles for the administration's cryptocurrency policies. In September, Atkins said the agency would write crypto rules under its existing authority, with or without new legislation, after the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate. The broker-dealer proposal now sits at the intersection of that agenda and a Congress about to change hands, with no public release date established.