News broke yesterday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed allowing registered investment advisers and regulated funds to custody cryptocurrency themselves. The new rules would create a separate custody regime for digital assets for these firms.

The proposal states that, in certain cases, they would be permitted self-custody — i.e., holding coins without transferring them to a third-party custodian — and that state-registered trust companies would be able to hold client crypto assets. The regulator expects to lift some constraints and give funds access to a wider set of crypto strategies. For now it is only a proposal: a 60-day comment period begins after publication.

The rationale is clear from current rules. Today advisers must keep client assets with qualified custodians — banks and brokers — which has limited their choice of crypto strategies. Managers who want to work directly with crypto would benefit. Third-party custodians could lose business: if advisers are allowed to self-custody, a portion of custodian revenue could vanish, although the proposed text does not disclose the exact self-custody conditions, so the scale of the impact is still unknown.

Recall that in February 2023, the SEC under Gary Gensler proposed extending custody rules to all assets, including crypto, and later withdrew that proposal.

The key question now is the conditions. Qualified custody rules were designed to prevent an adviser from losing, spending, or misappropriating clients' funds — and with crypto, the risk is specific: whoever controls the private key controls the asset. Allowing firms to custody themselves will work only under strict requirements for key protection and reporting, and those are exactly the points industry participants and competitors will debate over the next 60 days.

Technical outlook for Bitcoin

Buyers are now targeting a return to $87,000, which would open a direct path to $89,000 and then toward $92,000 — a break above which would signal attempts to restore the bull market. On the downside, I expect buyers at $84,900. A drop below that area could quickly push BTC toward $83,000. The next extended downside target would be around $81,300.

Technical outlook for Ethereum

A clear close above $2,739 opens the way to $2,793. The next extended target is around $2,872 — a break above which would reinforce bullish sentiment and restore buyer interest. On the downside, I expect buyers at $2,668. A return below that area could quickly send ETH toward $2,578. The next extended downside target would be around $2,486.

Chart notes:

• Red levels denote support and resistance points where price is expected to either stall or accelerate.
• Green shows the 50-day moving average.
• Blue shows the 100-day moving average.
• Light green shows the 200-day moving average.

Crosses of — or price tests of — these moving averages typically either stop the move or set a new market impulse.