A significant change regarding the legal status of digital assets has been announced in the United States. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Futures and Commodity Commission (CFTC) have published a critical joint guide, classifying the vast majority of crypto assets as “commodities” or “digital instruments”. This decision added a new dimension to the regulatory responsibility confusion that the industry has been discussing for a long time.
SEC’s New Approach and “Token Taxonomy”
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins clearly outlined the new approach in his statement at the Blockchain Summit in Washington. Atkins emphasized that the “token taxonomy” understanding of the crypto industry has been prepared together and “not everything will be seen as a security anymore.” According to the update, assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, ADA and LINK; NFTs and other digital collectibles will no longer be considered securities.
The new rules remove payment tokens, collectibles, and utility tokens from SEC oversight. Only tokenized stocks and bonds, which are blockchain representations of a traditional security, remain regulated by the SEC. The “innovation first, control second” concept previously explained by Atkins has been officially implemented.
This regulation was put into effect without waiting for the passage of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which Congress still has not brought to the approval stage. The new guide creates a temporary security area for sector actors by providing a reflection of the order that will occur if the law is implemented.
Conflict of Interest Discussion in Trump Family’s Project
The implementation of the new framework brought to the agenda allegations of conflict of interest in the public, especially around the decentralized finance project called World Liberty Financial, which is under the control of the Trump family. While the Trump family was ensuring that their projects were traded as tokens in the market, they were faced with intense disclosure and lock-up obligations under old regulations. These obligations have now been eliminated.
Todd Baker, a senior researcher at Columbia Law School, argued that the new framework ensures that for-profit transactions with questionable social benefits are kept away from federal oversight.
Just a few months ago, platforms like Gemini faced significant litigation on internal governance and compliance grounds. Current rules prevent projects like World Liberty Financial from experiencing similar problems as long as they operate through non-securitized digital assets.
The new approach is seen as an ambitious step to consolidate the US leadership in the global crypto market. Cody Carbone from Digital Chamber argues that the steps taken should be for US competitiveness; Summer Mersinger from the Blockchain Association stated that although joint work is beneficial in the short term, political tension may continue in the long term.
As a result, the industry is currently guided by interim guidance from regulators rather than legislation. Continuation of the current order unless permanent legislation is passed by Congress; It will depend on political balances and changes in the agenda.
