Congressman Nickel urged the SEC to withdraw their Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB121), stating that the law is preventing American banks from providing custodial services for digital assets, which might drive customers towards less regulated offshore options.
Despite consensus among parties to eliminate SAB 121, Nickel alleges that the SEC has ignored his pleas and has not engaged in a dialogue. He stresses the inconsistency of facilitating Spot Bitcoin ETPs while restricting banks from holding these digital assets on a large scale, which may ignite systemic risks in the financial world.
The SEC’s oversight of SAB121 has raised doubts about whether the committee is truly committed to ensuring transparency in the rulemaking processes, which is at the core of the cryptocurrency regulation problem.