October 2, 2026 Crypto Roundup: SEC Custody Proposal, Treasury Sanctions, and New ETF Filings

The SEC advanced its crypto regulatory agenda by proposing custody standards for registered investment advisers and regulated funds holding digital assets. The rule is not final and will first be open for public comment. Agency leaders, including Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda, acknowledged outgoing Commissioner Hester Peirce for helping shape a workable framework for digital assets.

President Trump is expected to name former SEC Chair Jay Clayton as the White House artificial intelligence czar.

Illinois agreed to postpone its newly proposed crypto transaction tax by six months. The move aligns with earlier reports that the 0.2% levy will be delayed until July 1, 2027, subject to court approval.

The US Treasury sanctioned a Hamas financing network that allegedly used fraudulent charities and cryptocurrency. Secretary Scott Bessent said the action targeted a member of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, two France-based fundraisers, and two sham charities that raised more than $2 million between 2020 and 2026.

The IMF approved an additional $139 million disbursement to El Salvador following a waiver related to the country’s limit on Bitcoin accumulation. The Fund cited stronger-than-expected growth and progress on Bitcoin transparency, anti-money-laundering measures, and the transfer of the Chivo wallet to private operators.

BNY is in discussions with Payward, the parent company of Kraken, about a possible infrastructure partnership.

Absa Group launched digital-asset custody services on the XRP Ledger. The South African bank said it has received regulatory approval to provide institutional custody, administration, and transfer services for BTC, ETH, XRP, and USDC.

ECB board member Isabel Schnabel argued that central-bank money should be brought onchain, warning that tokenized markets could otherwise settle in private-sector assets or foreign-currency instruments.

BitGo’s chief executive warned that all-in-one crypto platforms such as Coinbase pose structural risks, comparing aspects of their model to elements seen during the Lehman Brothers collapse and calling for clearer market-structure regulation.

Themes ETF Trust has asked the SEC to push the effective date for eight leveraged cryptocurrency ETFs to October 30, 2026. The proposed products include 2x long and short exposure to Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and Solana. The company noted that the filing changes the requested date and does not represent an approval.

Evernorth received shareholder approval for its merger with Armada II, a move intended to create a publicly traded XRP treasury company. Nasdaq trading is expected to begin around October 8.

Chainalysis attributed the $387 million Bitget hack to actors linked to North Korea. The firm said stolen funds moved across Ethereum, XRP, Zcash, and Tron within the first three hours, and that cryptocurrency thefts attributed to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2026 now exceed $1 billion.

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