On March 17, 2026, the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a landmark joint interpretation establishing the agencies’ first formal classification framework for crypto assets under federal securities and commodities law. After more than a decade of regulatory ambiguity, this guidance provides the agencies’ current position and more clarity on the question: which digital assets are securities?

In short, the answer is that most are not. The new token taxonomy addresses five asset categories, with only one of the five categories (digital securities) fully in scope of SEC jurisdiction. The guidance may carry immediate implications for fund accounting, portfolio classification, income recognition, regulatory…