On March 17, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), joined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), issued an interpretive release explaining how existing federal securities laws apply to cryptocurrency assets and common on‑chain activities.

The bottom line is clear:

• Most cryptocurrency assets are not themselves securities;
• Tokenized traditional instruments remain securities;
• A non‑security token can be offered “subject to” an investment contract and later separate from it; and
• When conducted as described, protocol mining, protocol staking, certain wrapping, and some airdrops are not securities transactions.

Effective immediately, the interpretation supersedes the SEC’s 2019 digital‑asset…