Global financial services company The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE:BK) secured an exception from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) contentious SAB 121 rule, paving the way for its entry into the lucrative but largely untapped cryptocurrency custody market.
What Happened: The regulator did not raise any objections to BNY's plan to safeguard cryptocurrency assets for its exchange-traded product clients, without reflecting these assets on the bank's balance sheet, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
This is a significant development considering the ongoing debate around the SEC's SAB 121 rule, which mandates that companies holding customers' cryptocurrencies must record them on their balance sheets. Banks have been critical of this rule, arguing that it hampers their ability to custody digital assets.
BNY clarified that the SEC's non-objection is limited to its ETP use case and does not address the broader issue of SAB 121 restricting bank custody of digital assets. The bank intends to continue its engagement with the Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) on additional use cases through the OCA's 'facts and circumstances' process.
Why It Matters: A TradFi giant, BNY holds more than $50 trillion in assets as of June 30. Its decision to step into the digital custodian market could be influenced by the successful launch of spot Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) earlier this year.
Currently, the market is lop-sided, with Coinbase being the primary custodian for most ETFs. Its hegemony was challenged somewhat after Anchorage Digital Bank secured a role as custodian for the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (BATS:ARKB).
This development comes amidst a broader debate around the SEC's SAB 121 rule. Republican lawmakers from both the Senate and House urged the SEC to retract this controversial accounting rule for cryptocurrency assets.
It is the only cryptocurrency-related legislation to pass through the House and Senate, although it was vetoed by the White House in May.
Price Action: Shares of BNY closed 0.27% lower at $71.87 during Tuesday's regular trading session, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
全球金融服務公司紐約銀行梅隆公司（紐約證券交易所代碼：BK）獲得了美國證券交易委員會（SEC）有爭議的SaB 121規則的例外規定，爲其進入利潤豐厚但基本上尚未開發的加密貨幣託管市場鋪平了道路。
發生了什麼：彭博社週二報道，監管機構沒有對紐約銀行爲其交易所交易產品客戶保護加密貨幣資產的計劃提出任何異議，但沒有在該銀行的資產負債表上反映這些資產。
考慮到圍繞美國證券交易委員會SaB 121規則的持續爭論，這是一個重大進展，該規則要求持有客戶加密貨幣的公司必須將其記錄在資產負債表上。銀行一直對這項規定持批評態度，認爲這阻礙了它們託管數字資產的能力。
紐約銀行澄清說，美國證券交易委員會的無異議僅限於其ETP用例，並未解決SaB 121限制銀行託管數字資產的更廣泛問題。該銀行打算通過OCA的 「事實和情況」 流程，繼續與總會計師辦公室（OCA）就其他用例進行合作。
爲何重要：作爲TradFi巨頭，紐約銀行截至6月30日持有超過50萬億美元的資產。其進入數字託管市場的決定可能會受到今年早些時候成功推出的現貨比特幣（加密貨幣：BTC）和以太幣（加密貨幣：ETH）交易所交易基金（ETF）的影響。
目前，市場處於不平衡狀態，Coinbase是大多數ETF的主要託管人。在安克雷奇數字銀行獲得方舟21Shares比特幣ETF（BATS: ARKB）託管人之後，其霸權受到了一些挑戰。
這一事態發展是在圍繞美國證券交易委員會SaB 121規則的更廣泛辯論中發生的。參衆兩院的共和黨議員都敦促美國證券交易委員會撤回這項有爭議的加密貨幣資產會計規則。
儘管它在5月被白宮否決，但它是衆議院和參議院唯一通過的與加密貨幣相關的立法。
價格走勢：根據Benzinga Pro的數據，紐約銀行股價在週二的常規交易時段收盤下跌0.27％，至71.87美元。
