SEC and CFTC classify tokens into five categories, naming Bitcoin and Ethereum as digital commodities. The CLARITY Act sits on the Senate calendar since June 1.
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The SEC and CFTC published a joint interpretive framework that classifies digital assets into five categories: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. The agencies said digital commodities, collectibles and tools are not securities by themselves, though transactions tied to an investment contract can still trigger securities law.
The framework names Bitcoin and Ethereum as examples of digital commodities. It also addresses protocol mining, staking, wrapping and certain airdrops – activities that have kept U.S. crypto compliance teams guessing for years.
For exchanges and institutional investors, the interpretation offers a reference point for compliance planning. It is not legislation. The CLARITY Act, which would give the industry statutory protections that agency guidance cannot match, remains stalled in the Senate.
The House passed the bill 294-134 in July 2025. The Senate Banking Committee advanced it 15-9 last May. It has sat on the Senate calendar since June 1 without a floor vote. Republicans added an ethics provision on July 22; Democrats rejected it the same day. Senate leadership has put off further consideration until after the August recess.
The framework leaves room for hybrid assets. Some tokens start as fundraising instruments and later evolve into functioning networks with different economic characteristics. The agencies acknowledged that a single category may not fit every project through its lifecycle.
Stablecoins receive separate treatment based on their design. The CFTC has already invoked emergency powers this year to keep Kalshi operating amid a legal dispute with New York. The SEC plans to vote August 14 on whether to propose Regulation Crypto, its first formal rulemaking for digital assets.
Grayscale withdrew registration requests for Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot ETFs in under three minutes this week. Wintermute registered a U.S. broker-dealer with the SEC and FINRA in August, expanding beyond crypto into stocks, options and ETFs.
The joint interpretation does not change the enforcement posture of either agency. It does give market participants a written reference for how the two regulators view token design and blockchain activity, something the industry has operated without since the SEC's 2019 framework on digital assets.
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