Crypto Inheritance: Roundup - February 2025

Vault12’s monthly update on regs, the industry, and crypto inheritance management.

• Regs Update

• Vault12 Guard Product Updates

• Industry Updates

• New to Crypto Inheritance? Start here.

Regs Update

The SEC Crypto Task Force has spoken. In a posted statement, Commissioner Hester Peirce revealed her priorities for the immediate upcoming Task Force work.

Our analysis here focuses on how this work affects Vault12.

The first thing to note is that no regulations or laws have changed (other than rescinding the controversial SEC Bulletin SAB 121, which now enables Banks to conduct crypto custody). Until SEC policies actually change, or new bills are written and submitted to Congress, or pending lawsuits are finalised, everything that happens is simply directional, with no mandates. Therefore, companies must be careful to avoid straying into grey territory and potentially creating legal jeopardy - especially this close to the finishing line.

Let’s look at the top three key items:

1. Security Status: This is a fundamental item of policy that needs clarification, and everything else will hang off the definitions used here. Are crypto tokens issued by software developers utilities, or are they securities?

2. Coin and Token Offerings: What happens if, out of an abundance of caution (and lack of clarity), a token was issued as a security but in fact is used as a utility token? This was the subject of Commissioner Peirce’s “Safe Harbour 2.0” initiative under the previous administration.

3. Special Purpose Broker Dealer: Under the last administration, the definition of “broker-dealer” was expanded, leading to a fundamental conflict with crypto trading platforms: centralised exchanges, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), smart contracts, etc. This expanded definition is misguided and unworkable, and currently the subject of active legal proceedings. These lawsuits needs to be settled so that the industry can get on with innovating and releasing financial products.

Once these items are sorted out, crypto companies will be free to conduct their business and have their tokens freely trading.

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Vault12 Guard Product Updates

We are excited to announce that Release 2.6.0 is coming soon:

• Now on Mac and iPad – Full official support through the App Store.

• Drag and drop on Mac – Instantly add assets to your Vault with a simple gesture.

• Smoother navigation – A refreshed Dashboard with a smarter layout helps you find what you need faster.

• Expanded search for more crypto wallets – Now compatible with 20+ more wallets.

• Enhanced Address Explorer – Now supports all major Bitcoin address formats, such as Segwit and Taproot.

• Performance improvements – Faster, smoother, and more reliable than ever.

Industry Updates

Earlier this month, we saw the Presidents’s Crypto and AI Czar, David Sacks, hold the first Crypto Press conference. In attendance were industry leaders and politicians — most of whom were affiliated with the CFTC through their committee assignments.

This has sparked rumours that any cryptocurrency not deemed a security will fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC — a marked change. This is a simply a rumour at this stage.

The highlights of the conference were:

• Keeping crypto innovation onshore to ensure crypto innovation in financial technology keeps the US ahead.

• Formation of a bipartisan and bicameral working group to drive new legislation across SEC and CFTC.

• The role of stablecoins ensuring dominance of the US dollar, including a new bill with well-defined regulations bringing much-needed clarity to industry participants.

New to Crypto Inheritance? Start here

Have you been tracking a 2025 New Years resolution to get more organized with your digital life? If yes, then you are probably using a password manager to keep track of your passwords.

But hopefully you're not storing your digital wallet seed phrase in your password manager! And where are you storing the password to your password manager? It might be time for you to consider using a Digital Vault.

Are you growing more concerned about your online privacy? Is it possible for you to keep track of which third parties are giving others access to your data ... including data stored in encrypted Clouds? A new UK push for access to Apple iCloud data is leading even more people to think about how to protect their online privacy.