SEC Self Custody Update Lifts DeFi and Bitcoin

The SEC's recent clarification that self-custody wallets and certain DeFi interfaces are less likely to be treated as custodial broker-dealers has been read by markets as a policy shift that reduces regulatory tail risk for Bitcoin and wallet-centric DeFi infrastructure. Traders bid up Bitcoin and wallet-adjacent tokens on the news; the update is felt most directly by bearer assets and protocols where users retain control of keys. The change does not remove broader regulatory uncertainty (token classification, stablecoin rules, banking partner conservatism), but it reprices risks for non-custodial models and could support flows into spot Bitcoin and wallet-native DeFi if on-chain activity and exchange outflows confirm the move.