The Securities and Exchange Commission has just handed crypto issuers something they’ve been asking for since March: a clearer picture of where the line sits between a functional blockchain project and an unregistered securities offering. On Sept. 25, SEC staff released a new set of SEC crypto FAQs that walk through how the agency’s earlier interpretation of federal securities laws applies to staking receipt tokens, marketing language, token buybacks and the murky question of when “helping a network grow” turns into something regulators call essential managerial efforts.

Key takeaways

• SEC staff issued FAQs on Sept. 25 clarifying how the agency’s March interpretation of federal securities laws applies to crypto assets,…