Chainlink Backs SEC’s Crypto Framework—Institutional Floodgates Ready to Open?

Chainlink throws weight behind SEC’s new crypto guidelines, signaling a potential green light for Wall Street’s blockchain ambitions.

Finally—regulatory clarity or just another paperwork shuffle? The oracle network’s endorsement cuts through the usual bureaucratic fog, positioning crypto as the ’compliant rebel’ institutional finance never knew it needed.

Wall Street’s spreadsheet jockeys are already salivating. Time to see if they’ll actually deploy capital or just form another ’working group.’

SEC’s crypto guidance

The update outlines how regulatory requirements like custody obligations and capital rules interact with digital assets.

According to the SEC, broker-dealers holding non-security crypto, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, are not subject to the customer protection rules under Rule 15c3-3, which apply only to securities. This distinction gives the firms more precise boundaries on what types of digital assets fall within traditional custody rules.

Additionally, the guidance clarifies how broker-dealers should treat positions in digital assets for net capital purposes.

While the focus remains on BTC and ETH, which currently underlie approved exchange-traded products (ETPs), the SEC notes that this does not imply broker-dealers are restricted to holding only those two assets.

However, the agency also cautioned that digital assets not classified as securities do not benefit from protections under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA). That means customers may be exposed to additional risk when holding non-security crypto through registered firms.

Beyond broker-dealer guidance, the updated FAQs also tackle how transfer agents can leverage distributed ledger technology (DLT), including public blockchains, to maintain securities records.

The SEC states that transfer agents may use DLT as their official Master Securityholder File, provided they meet all recordkeeping, compliance, and reporting obligations under current securities law.

The Commission added that the specific technology used is at the discretion of the transfer agent, as long as the records remain secure, accurate, accessible to the SEC, and preserved for the required duration.

What this means for markets and Chainlink

The immediate implication is that US financial institutions can begin moving Core fund operations on-chain, adopting regulator-approved and battle-tested infrastructure. This opens the door to massive cost savings for the $132 trillion global fund-administration market.

For Chainlink, it’s a vindication. With CCIP now powering real-world institutional pilots and its team having helped shape federal policy, the project looks increasingly like the connective tissue between TradFi and compliant on-chain finance.

Bottom line

After years of regulatory gridlock, the US has effectively sanctioned public blockchains for use in securities infrastructure. Chainlink, already embedded with institutions and now with policy influence in Washington, appears positioned to become the de facto middleware for the future of tokenized finance.