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Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers:

Summary: The SEC and CFTC have jointly issued a landmark 68-page interpretation establishing a formal token taxonomy, declaring that most crypto assets fall outside federal securities law and providing long-awaited regulatory clarity on staking, mining, airdrops, and wrapping.

In one of the most consequential regulatory actions for the digital asset industry in years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, 2026 issued a formal interpretation clarifying how federal securities laws apply to crypto assets - and the headline conclusion is a sweeping one: most crypto assets are not themselves securities.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission joined the 68-page guidance, pledging to administer the Commodity Exchange Act in a manner consistent with the SEC's interpretation and confirming that many non-security crypto assets may qualify as commodities under its own jurisdiction.

At the core of the guidance is the first formal token taxonomy issued by U.S. regulators. The SEC now groups crypto assets into five distinct categories:

• Digital commodities - assets deriving value from the functioning of a crypto system and market supply and demand, rather than from the managerial efforts of others
• Digital collecti......................

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