The crypto industry finally got the clear lines it had been demanding from Washington for years.
Six days after the SEC and CFTC unveiled their new crypto framework, the policy now moves to the formal publication process via the Federal Register, giving the market a clearer picture of what this week’s regulatory reset actually is and what it still isn’t.
On March 17, the SEC and CFTC said most crypto assets are not securities, established a formal taxonomy and gave staking, airdrops, mining and wrapped tokens more breathing room than the market has seen in years.
However, the new framework is an interpretive rule that does not create new legal obligations, takes effect without prior notice and comment, and comes with an explicit caveat: the Commission may refine, revise, or expand the interpretation once public comment is completed.
Chairman Paul Atkins said the announcement was “a beginning, not an end.” He has also said that only Congress can truly future-proof the rulebook. Both things are true at the same time, and the tension between them is the real story of this week.
What the agencies actually did
The March 17 release is a real break from the era of former chairman Gary Gensler.
The SEC has formally declared that most crypto assets are not securities, and that only tokenized versions of traditional securities fall squarely within the securities segment.
It also created a five-part taxonomy that included proof-of-work mining, staking, packing, covered airdrops and the treatment of non-security assets once tendered under investment contracts.
That last point carries real weight: the release states that an unsecured crypto asset does not have to remain tied to an investment contract forever, and it describes how that separation can happen.
Secondary market trading is one of the most consequential developments in years.
Since its announcement, the framework has entered the formal publication process via the Federal Register, while the CFTC has followed with a no-action stance on Phantom’s self-custodial wallet software and a series of crypto and blockchain FAQs published on March 20. That doesn’t change the interpretation in a statute, but it does show that the agencies are trying to implement the new posture quickly.
The CFTC joined the release, saying it would enforce the Commodity Exchange Act in a manner consistent with the SEC’s interpretation.
The two agencies signed a new MOU on March 11 and created a joint harmonization initiative. On paper, Washington’s two top financial regulators are more aligned with crypto than at any time in the asset class’ history.
The release also formally replaces the SEC staff’s 2019 Framework for Investment Contract Analysis of Digital Assets, which has been identified by the industry as the source of the greatest regulatory uncertainty.
Commission-level interpretation that replaces staff guidance is a meaningful upgrade. This is not a speech. It is not a one-off letter without action. It carries the weight of a collectively acting Commission.
Formal publications and follow-up guidance from staff improve visibility and compliance planning, but do not move the framework to legal grounds. They make the policy easier to use today, not harder to reverse tomorrow.
Why victory has a ceiling
The sustainability ladder runs from most permanent to least, and most of this week’s relief is at the bottom.
At the top are the statute and binding legal doctrine. The Howey test still applies to the analysis of investment contracts, and the SEC has explicitly retained it.
The GENIUS Act stablecoin lane, effective July 18, is based on legal grounds. These parts of this week’s picture are truly difficult for a future Commission to erase.
Below you will find the Commission’s interpretation. Stronger than employee guidance, but the release itself says it is reviewable. The taxonomy categories, the interpretations of strike, airdrop, and packing, and the concept of separation of investment contracts are all interpretations of existing law by the Commission, and not a rewrite by Congress.
Below this is the infrastructure between the agencies. The SEC-CFTC MOU does not create any legally binding obligations and either party may terminate the MOU upon 30 days’ written notice. Agencies aligned today are a political fact, not a legal fact.
The staff relief is at the bottom. The Phantom no-action position and the March 20 FAQ are the easiest layer to unwind. They are now useful, but structurally vulnerable.
The gap between where investors feel relief and where legal sustainability actually lies is at the heart of the fragility of this week’s framework.
SEC commissioners serve staggered five-year terms, one of which ends each June 5, with approximately 18 months of eligibility if no replacement is confirmed.
The CFTC operates under the same diversified structure. A future government will need 12 to 24 months to reshape both committees, but the chairman can move more quickly without a full Commission vote on every decision.
Atkins acknowledged this directly in November 2025, saying there will always be a risk that a future Commission could change course. His February testimony before the House Financial Services Committee was more pointed: No SEC action can future-proof the rulebook as effectively as market structure legislation.
He reiterated this point on March 17, the same day the release took place.
One of the architects of crypto’s biggest regulatory victory in years spent part of that day publicly explaining why the victory is incomplete.
The European contrast
The bull case requires Congress. The Senate market structure legislation introduced in January would convert today’s interpretive bridge into a legal framework, defining when tokens are securities or commodities and transferred to the CFTC spot market authority.
If that bill passes, exchange access, token classification, and staking and airdrop treatments will shift from the Commission’s interpretation to a ground that a future president cannot revise with a memo.
Atkins’ own promised “safe harbor” rulemaking would be a meaningful interim step: formal rulemaking builds a thicker administrative record than an interpretive release, making any future rollback procedurally onerous, if not impossible.
The bear case only requires that Congress remain deadlocked. The stablecoin bill in the Senate stalled in February, despite recent signs of progress.
If market structure legislation follows the same path, the sector’s new clarity rests entirely on the current Commission’s willingness to toe the line.
Citi has already priced in that risk by cutting its 12-month Bitcoin target from $143,000 to $112,000, mainly because US legislation had stalled, with a recession bear case of $58,000.
Wall Street already makes a distinction between good guidance and sustainable law.
The contrast also becomes clearer in another way. The SEC also approved Nasdaq rule changes to support tokenized settlement for certain already regulated securities, reinforcing the idea that Washington is increasingly comfortable with blockchain within its trusted market infrastructure, even while much of crypto still relies on reviewable interpretation rather than enduring law.
The EU’s MiCA regime has been in place since December 2024, while stablecoin rules have been in place since mid-2024, creating a bloc-wide legal framework for crypto asset service providers.
America’s core question is still sustainability. Crypto has won the agencies, but has not yet won the law.