Hey, it’s Marc,
For the first time ever in their combined 183 years of existence, the SEC and CFTC published a joint document agreeing on what crypto actually is.
They named 16 specific tokens as commodities. They said staking isn't a security. And they formally acknowledged that a security can stop being a security.
That last part is the one that changes everything. [RELEASE]
The Signal: Most crypto tokens aren’t securities by default, and their regulatory status depends on how they’re used, and can change over time.
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What happened
The SEC and CFTC issued a landmark 68-page joint interpretation on March 17, 2026, establishing the most significant overhaul of U.S. capital markets infrastructure since the Securities Act of 1933. The release introduces a five-pillar token taxonomy, explicitly names 16 crypto assets as digital commodities, and formally ends the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” doctrine.
It is a final agency statement of position, effective upon publication in the Federal Register.
The interpretation establishes five token categories: digital commodities (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, AVAX, LINK, DOT, HBAR, LTC, BCH, and others), digital collectibles (NFTs, meme coins), digital tools (memberships, credentials, identity badges), stablecoins (non-securities under the GENIUS Act), and digital securities (tokenized traditional securities, which remain under SEC oversight).
Watch our recent podcast with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce:
Stepping back: Six days earlier, on March 11, the SEC and CFTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a Joint Harmonization Initiative to coordinate oversight across policymaking, examination, and enforcement.
Zooming in: The taxonomy is the product. The interpretation provides explicit guidance on staking, mining, airdrops, and token wrapping. Protocol staking and mining are classified as “administrative or ministerial” activities, not securities transactions. Airdrops, because they involve no investment of money, fail the Howey test. Wrapped tokens derive value from the underlying asset, not from managerial efforts.
Meme coins got the same legal status as Bitcoin. By classifying Dogecoin and Shiba Inu as commodities, the SEC formally said: decentralization and market-driven price discovery matter more than “utility.”
What they’re saying: The timing is great. We just interviewed the SEC Commissioner and the crypto mum Hester Peirce at Fiftyone Podcast. She said,
“We’ll help people understand how we’re thinking about what an investment contract is, when it ceases to travel with a token.”
Previously, the digital assets were divided into four buckets and now it has also expanded to Stablecoins, with Genius Act framework and OCCas the main regulator.
