Crypto regs: SEC & CFTC harmonize

SEC and the CFTC issued Interpretive Release No. 33‑11412 on March 17, 2026 — a 68‑page joint interpretive release that formally establishes a five‑category token taxonomy. (sec.gov) The taxonomy’s five buckets are labeled “digital commodities,” “digital collectibles,” “digital tools,” “stablecoins,” and “digital securities,” and the agencies state federal securities laws apply only to the digital‑securities bucket. (sec.gov) Separately, the SEC proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rule 15c2‑11 on March 16, 2026 that would limit the rule’s scope to equity securities and opened a 60‑day public comment period. (sec.gov) Press coverage and industry commentary characterized the 15c2‑11 proposal as removing a longstanding compliance gate that had chilled broker‑dealer OTC crypto quotations and imposed manual quote‑vetting burdens on venues. (ccn.com) The interpretive release explicitly addresses how a “non‑security crypto asset” may become or cease to be an investment contract and clarifies treatment of staking, mining, airdrops and token wrapping—items that directly affect event‑processing, custody and settlement workflows on trading platforms. (sec.gov) CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig pledged the CFTC will administer the Commodity Exchange Act consistent with the SEC interpretation, a formal alignment regulators say will reduce duplicative examinations and jurisdictional friction between the agencies. (cftc.gov) Analysts cited likely market‑structure consequences including eased OTC quoting friction, lower compliance costs for broker‑dealers, and the potential to streamline pre‑trade compliance paths that previously required synchronous, manual issuer‑verification steps in some institutional OTC stacks. (capwolf.com)