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ARTICLE · 08 APRIL 2026

SEC And CFTC Guidance Delivers Long-Awaited Crypto Clarity

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On March 17, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) jointly issued guidance addressing the application of federal securities...

United StatesTechnology
Christopher Bosch
Christopher Bosch
Maxwell Earp-Thomas
Maxwell Earp-Thomas
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On March 17, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) jointly issued guidance addressing the application of federal securities and commodities laws to digital assets (the “Guidance”). The Guidance sets forth a digital asset taxonomy, making clear for the first time which assets the regulators consider to be within their respective purviews based upon their characteristics, uses, and functions. It also draws a distinction between digital securities and non-security crypto assets subject to an investment contract and articulates the circumstances under which that contract arises and dissolves. The Guidance formally supersedes the SEC’s 2019 Framework for “Investment Contract” Analysis of Digital Assets, and does so as a formal interpretive rule under the Administrative Procedure Act, meaning it is more authoritative than the informal frameworks and statements of the past. 

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