The proposed interpretative application of federal securities laws on digital assets by the SEC reportedly carries more weight than staff-level statements.
Officials at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a regulatory proposal to the White House with the potential to change how the government handles enforcement of federal securities laws over cryptocurrencies.
In a Tuesday submission to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the SEC sent a “commission interpretation on application of the federal securities laws to certain types of crypto assets and certain transactions involving crypto assets.”
The move reportedly marked interpretative guidance around “token taxonomy” for cryptocurrencies, determining which tokens may be considered securities under the SEC’s purview.
In contrast with rulemaking that requires notice to the public and comment periods, the proposed interpretative application of federal securities laws reportedly carries more weight than staff-level statements. SEC Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce said at ETHDenver in February that the agency sought to clarify how tokenized securities fit within existing federal securities laws.
As of Thursday, the proposal was under review by the White House office. Trump administration officials have also held three meetings in 2026 related to passage of the crypto market structure bill moving through the US Senate. The legislation, if passed, is expected to significantly affect how the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversee digital assets.
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Separately, the CFTC on Monday sent its own guidance on prediction markets to the White House. Michael Selig, who chairs the regulator, has claimed that the agency has “exclusive jurisdiction” in overseeing such markets.
SEC and CFTC still lack commissioner appointees
As of Thursday, the SEC is being led by three commissioners and the CFTC by one, in bodies normally consisting of a bipartisan group of five. The commissioners — Selig at the SEC, and Atkins, Peirce and Mark Uyeda at the SEC — are all Republican members, with no leaders representing Democrats.
US President Donald Trump has not made any public statement signaling that he plans to nominate additional commissioners to either agency.
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