Today, a landmark policy to legitimize crypto assets has finally been implemented in the United States.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have jointly provided detailed classifications and definitions of crypto assets, clearly stating which types of crypto assets fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC and which types fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC.

This new policy currently defines five major categories of assets: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities.

- Digital Commodities

The various blockchain-native tokens we commonly see (including BTC, ETH, SOL, etc.) fall under "digital commodities." These assets are explicitly regulated only by the CFTC.

- Digital Securities

Stock tokens, bond tokens, and similar discussions that have been very active in the ecosystem over the past couple of years clearly fall under SEC regulation.

- Digital Collectibles

Well-known NFTs (such as CryptoPunks and Chromie Squiggles mentioned directly in the document), meme coins, and similar collectibles do not offer holders an expectation of financial returns, so they are neither regulated by the SEC nor the CFTC.

However, if an NFT carries rights or interests with an expectation of financial returns, such as issuing securities or bonds in the form of NFTs, then they fall under SEC regulation.

- Digital Tools

Digital tools refer to crypto assets used as tools within the crypto ecosystem, such as ENS domains, membership cards, etc.

These assets fall under SEC regulation during their development phase (that is, before the network actually forms), and once their network is formed and decentralized, they fall under CFTC regulation.

- Stablecoins

USDT, USDC, and similar coins fall into this category.

If stablecoins are simply used as cash equivalents in payment scenarios, they fall under CFTC regulation.

But if the value of a stablecoin is pegged to an asset that can generate returns, it falls under SEC regulation. Upon seeing this, I am reminded of a type of stablecoin in the ecosystem that can automatically generate interest. According to this new regulation, such stablecoins should be under SEC regulation, meaning holders may need to undergo qualifying certification.

Additionally, the new regulation clarifies the following actions frequently seen in the crypto ecosystem:

- Mining

This does not count as issuing securities.

The reason given by the new regulation is that this is a form of network maintenance and the generation of decentralized consensus. The rewards obtained from mining are based on computational contributions (PoW) or algorithmic presets, rather than investing in a "joint enterprise" and relying on the management efforts of others.

- Staking

At the protocol level, staking does not count as a security; however, if custodial staking is involved, specific conditions must be met.

If an individual directly stakes at a chain node or delegates staking, it is considered participation in network consensus and does not constitute a securities action.

If staking occurs through an exchange or intermediary institution, as long as the intermediary does not involve secondary lending, leveraged trading, or discretionary trading, and only charges service fees as a technological interface, it is also not considered a securities issuance.

Staking certificates (LST): such as stETH, as long as the underlying assets are “digital commodities” (like ETH) and the certificates only serve as proof of redemption rights without any additional profit distribution mechanism, they are generally not considered securities.

- Airdrops

This also does not count as issuing securities.

According to the SEC, as long as recipients do not provide money, goods, services, or other substantial consideration, airdrops do not meet the “investment of money” element of the Howey Test.

This applicable scenario includes airdrops to specific token holders, rewards for early users of test networks, or airdrops based on application usage records, all of which are clearly categorized as non-securities actions.

- Wrapped Assets (Wrapped BTC / Assets)

This does not count as issuing securities.

The regulatory rules state that as long as the wrapping protocol (like wBTC) is 1:1 pegged to an underlying non-securities asset (like BTC) and its primary function is to provide cross-chain interoperability rather than "raising funds," then this "wrapping" action is considered a technical mapping.

I believe this rule has clearly explained most of the numerous questions that have been troubling us.

In summary, according to this new regulation, the vast majority of activities currently engaged in by users in the crypto ecosystem (as long as they are not buying or selling tokenized securities or bonds) are basically not regulated by the SEC, and thus are not subject to the constraints and restrictions faced by traditional securities investors.

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