The Senate today voted 60-38 in favor of a House resolution to overturn a Securities and Exchange Commission staff accounting bulletin that changes the way banks and other publicly traded entities are expected to account for digital assets held in custody. H.J. Res. 109, introduced by Reps. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) and Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), was previously passed by the House. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) introduced the Senate companion measure. The resolution must be signed by President Biden to take effect.
“We applaud Sen. Lummis and Reps. Nickel and Flood for their leadership in shepherding the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval for the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 through both chambers,” ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said. “These votes are a clear bipartisan rebuke of the SEC’s decision to depart from its longstanding accounting treatment for custodied assets in a way that threatens banks’ ability to provide consumers with safe and sound digital asset services. Without bank custodians for digital assets, consumers are left only with unsupervised, poorly regulated options to safeguard these assets. We urge President Biden to move quickly to sign this resolution into law to help protect American consumers.”
