The areas of cryptocurrency actually regulated by the SEC and the areas only proposed regulation

As of March 2026, the SEC's regulatory boundaries and proposals for crypto assets

According to the explanatory guidance jointly issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of March 2026, the SEC's own position is that most crypto assets are not securities, and only the category they call "digital securities" is under its jurisdiction. However, the guidance is not binding. The formulation of a formal rule with stronger legal force was still pending when the relevant report was released.

Current boundaries drawn by the SEC

On March 17, 2026, the SEC and the CFTC jointly issued what Chairman Paul Atkins called a "token classification method", which divides crypto assets into categories such as digital goods, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities. Atkins told reporters that the distinction puts the SEC back on its core mission of regulating securities markets, noting in a statement that the interpretation provides market participants with "a clear understanding of how the committee handles crypto assets."

The guideline sets out a version of investment contract testing: When the issuer of a digital asset treats it as an investment in a joint enterprise and promises to link profits to the issuer's efforts, the asset is considered a security. According to the guidelines, this status is not permanent-once the issuer fulfills or fails to fulfill these commitments, the contract terminates and the token is no longer considered a security. The guidelines also clearly state that airdrops, protocol pledges and protocol mining are not within the SEC's jurisdiction over digital securities.

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said his agency was adopting the same classification as part of a push for "coordination" between the two regulators and believed "now is the time to build in the United States."

The process of drawing this line: timeline

Under the leadership of former Chairman Gary Gensler, the SEC has adopted an aggressive litigation strategy against companies such as Coinbase and Ripple, a practice that has been criticized for creating regulatory uncertainty.

On February 20, 2025, the SEC reorganized its Crypto Assets and Networks division into a new Networks and Emerging Technology division (CETU). Laura Daraid, former deputy director of the SEC's enforcement division, was named the first head. The division is made up of 30 lawyers and fraud experts spread across the SEC's nine regional offices. Acting Chairman Mark Ujeda said the department would cooperate with Commissioner Hurst Pierce's encryption task force while using its law enforcement resources prudently.

Paul Atkins was sworn in as chairman of the SEC on April 21, 2025, a move that marks a shift from enforcement-first regulation to building a compliance framework. On July 18, 2025, the GENIUS Act was passed, becoming the first comprehensive federal legislation to regulate stablecoins. In addition, since January 2025, the SEC has revoked its SAB 121 accounting guidance, clarified crypto asset classification rules, and approved new spot crypto ETFs, changes related to the president's executive order establishing a presidential working group on digital asset markets.

Actual jurisdiction of CETU

CETU's mission lists six priority areas: artificial intelligence-driven fraud schemes; manipulation via the dark web and social media; hacking attacks that lead to significant non-public information leaks; takeover of brokerage accounts; fraud related to crypto-assets; and compliance with cybersecurity rules. The interpretation of the list is that the department's encryption focus is on fraud that uses blockchain technology as a medium of transaction, rather than treating most digital assets as unregistered securities, as the SEC during Gensler's time did. This is an interpretation of CETU's established priorities, not a direct description of the SEC's own scope, and this document cannot be verified against the SEC's original charter document, which is not within the scope of available evidence.

What is not covered in this article

The narrative in this article relies on second-hand reports rather than the SEC's original guidance documents, enforcement charters, or press releases, so it is not possible to directly quote the precise legal text of the classification or CETU's founding order.

The statement regarding Atkins 'swearing-in date and the passage of the GENIUS Act is based only on titles and has no article body available, so it cannot be considered an independent verification of the entire article from this media outlet.

According to relevant reports, as of March 17, 2026, the SEC's position that "most crypto assets are not securities per se" remains an explanatory guideline. The report clearly pointed out that the guideline has not yet had the legal effect of formal rules. Atkins told reporters that a formal rule-making proposal expected to exceed 400 pages and containing an "innovation exemption" would be available "within a week or two." The evidence here does not extend to whether the rulemaking was published, what its content was, or whether it changed the classification described here.

Whether Congress passed the market-structure legislation Atkins believes is needed to make the shift permanent-he referred to ongoing work in Congress and reports that the chances of passing a related bill have declined-is also beyond what this evidence package can confirm.

Finally, the description that CETU focuses on fraud rather than securities enforcement is a self-interpretation of the department's announced priorities. This article repeats this as an analysis attributed to the media, rather than a verification statement from the SEC itself.

Source

Each of the above facts is attributed to relevant reports. If there are differences between reports, this article has explained them.