On March 17, 2026, the SEC and CFTC jointly published a 68-page interpretive release that does something regulators had avoided for over a decade: it defines, in explicit terms, what types of crypto assets are securities and what types are not.

This is the most significant regulatory clarification in US crypto history. Here is what it actually says.

The five-category taxonomy

The guidance splits all crypto assets into five buckets:

  • Digital commodities - assets whose value comes from a functioning network, not from promises by an issuer. Not securities.
  • Digital collectibles - tokenised art, media, or cultural items. Not securities.
  • Digital tools - utility tokens used to access services. Not securities.
  • Stablecoins - payment stablecoins from permitted issuers are excluded. Not securities.
  • Digital securities - assets that function like equity or debt, just on a blockchain. Still fully regulated as securities.

Who is named

The release explicitly lists 18 assets as digital commodities, including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Dogecoin, Avalanche, Polkadot, and Litecoin. For the first time, the US government has formally said these are not securities.

How the Howey test now works

The guidance does not abandon the Howey test - the century-old Supreme Court framework for identifying investment contracts - but it clarifies how it applies. The key shift: it is the transaction, not the token itself, that is the unit of analysis. A token sold with issuer promises of future development can be part of a securities offering. The same token, once the project is fully operational and the issuer no longer plays a central role, may no longer be.

This resolves a long-standing anxiety in the industry: tokens can, over time, graduate out of securities status. As one SEC official put it, calling it “the last chapter in the Book of Howey.”

The guidance also clarifies that protocol staking, protocol mining, and airdrops to recipients who contribute nothing in exchange are not securities transactions.

What this is not

This is an interpretation, not a law. It is binding on the SEC and CFTC, but a future administration could revise it. Full legislative permanence depends on the CLARITY Act, which passed the House in July 2025 and cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee in January 2026, but has not yet become law.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins framed the release as a return to basics: “After more than a decade of uncertainty, this interpretation will provide market participants with a clear understanding of how the Commission treats crypto assets under federal securities laws.”

For now, it represents the clearest map yet of a regulatory territory that has operated without one.