Golden Finance reported that in May 2024, the U.S. Congress decided to repeal Staff Accounting Bulletin-121 (SAB-121) by a bipartisan vote of 228 to 182. Recently, Paul Munter, chief accountant of the SEC, seemed to loosen the restrictions of SAB-121 in his speech on September 9. Alex Thorn, head of Galaxy Research, analyzed that Munter proposed exemption standards, allowing bank holding companies and introducing brokers to bypass the custody requirements stipulated in SAB-121. Banks can avoid the reporting requirements of SAB-121 if they obtain written permission from state regulators, keep customer assets in a "bankruptcy isolation" manner, specify standards in contracts, and conduct regular risk assessments. Introducing brokers must meet three conditions: not holding customer private keys, not acting as a third party to transactions, and must obtain a legal opinion proving that they are exempted introducing brokers. Although large national banks may not be able to meet these exemption standards and still need to apply directly to the SEC for exemptions, Thorn believes that the relaxation of SAB-121 provisions is a positive development for the adoption of the crypto industry and digital assets. Thorn said the SEC may never have intended for SAB-121 to apply to banks, but as interest from banks grew, the full impact of the standard became apparent, leading to a backlash against the SEC. The measures could also be "punitive" against the crypto industry.