Crypto reclassified as commodities
The SEC and CFTC’s March 17 joint guidance formally treats sixteen major cryptocurrencies — including Bitcoin and Ethereum — as digital commodities, a move market watchers say clears regulatory uncertainty and opens the door to more institutional adoption. This is being framed as a structural shift for U.S. digital‑assets markets. (intellectia.ai, fool.com)
Agencies published a 68‑page joint interpretive release (Release Nos. 33‑11412 and 34‑105020) on March 17, 2026 that sets out the new token taxonomy and the agencies’ analysis framework. (sec.gov) The document explicitly names the remaining 14 tokens in the “named” cohort—XRP, Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Chainlink (LINK), Avalanche (AVAX), Polkadot (DOT), Hedera (HBAR), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Stellar (XLM), Tezos (XTZ), and Aptos (APT) or Algorand depending on vendors’ lists reported. (fintechweekly.com) The interpretive release establishes a five‑part taxonomy — digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities — and assigns assets to those buckets for the first time in a Commission‑level statement. (sec.gov) The agencies state that routine network activities such as airdrops, protocol mining, protocol staking, and the “wrapping” of a non‑security token will be analyzed under the taxonomy rather than treated categorically as investment contracts. (sec.gov) The CFTC joined the SEC in the announcement and said it will administer the Commodity Exchange Act consistent with the SEC’s interpretation, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig delivering the guidance at the DC Blockchain Summit. (cftc.gov) The agencies characterize the publication as an interpretive release (not a rulemaking) that will guide agency staff and enforcement, and the interpretation appears on the Federal Register docket for March 23, 2026. (sullcrom.com)
