U.S. Government Accountability Office: SEC's cryptocurrency accounting announcement did not follow procedures and needs to be reviewed by Congress

According to ChainCatcher news, as reported by CoinDesk, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an investigation today, stating that the SEC failed to send its Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB 121) to Congress, violating the Congressional Review Act. U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry and U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis jointly issued a statement saying that SAB 121 significantly harms consumer interests and clearly exceeds the SEC's authority, requiring Congressional review. The SEC subsequently stated in a statement that the GAO's opinion would not affect the status of SAB 121.

It is reported that SAB 121 requires financial institutions holding customer crypto assets to include these assets on their balance sheets. The crypto industry and U.S. Republican lawmakers believe this undermines the willingness of regulated banks to act as cryptocurrency custodians, and that the bulletin's treatment of crypto assets is inconsistent with other assets.