SEC and CFTC officially announced: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and 13 other coins are not securities

“We are no longer the ‘securities and everything else commission’” – Paul Atkins, SEC Chairman, DC Blockchain Summit, March 17, 2026.

On March 17, at the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, something happened that the crypto industry had been waiting for more than ten years. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Mike Zelig jointly published a 68-page document, Interpretive Release No. 33-11412 – establishing the first official classification of crypto assets in US history. The central thesis of the document is direct and unambiguous: most cryptocurrencies are not securities.

Full list – all 17 coins

The document explicitly calls the following assets “digital goods” under the jurisdiction of the CFTC—not securities:

▸ Bitcoin (BTC) – the first and largest cryptocurrency
▸ Ethereum (ETH) – the largest smart contract platform
▸ Solana (SOL) – high-performance L1 blockchain
▸ XRP – payment token of the Ripple ecosystem
▸ Cardano (ADA) – academic PoS blockchain
▸ Avalanche (AVAX) – scalable smart contract platform
▸ Chainlink (LINK) – decentralized oracle network
▸ Polkadot (DOT) – multi-chain interoperability
▸ Hedera (HBAR) – corporate distributed ledger
▸ Stellar (XLM) – payment network for cross-border transfers
▸ Litecoin (LTC) is one of the oldest altcoins
▸ Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – Bitcoin fork with a large block
▸ Tezos (XTZ) – self-modifying smart contract blockchain
▸ Aptos (APT) – Next generation L1 on Move
▸ Algorand (ALGO) – pure PoS blockchain with instant finalization
▸ Dogecoin (DOGE) – the largest meme coin
▸ Shiba Inu (SHIB) is the second meme coin by capitalizationTotal – 17 assets. A number of sources indicate 16, since Algorand is mentioned separately in the speech of the head of the Division of Corporation Finance, and not in the main text of the document. However, the SEC’s official position at the press conference included ALGO on the list.

What’s off the once agenda and for all

In separate paragraphs, the document clearly excludes the following types of activities from the scope of securities legislation: protocol mining (including Bitcoin mining), protocol staking, token airdrops and token wrapping – wrapping of tokens between blockchains. This removes legal uncertainty from the three largest sources of income in the ecosystem.

Five categories instead of chaos

The document divides all crypto assets into five clear categories.

1. Digital goods are assets with a decentralized network, the value of which does not depend on the efforts of one team: this is where all 17 coins are.
2. Digital Collectibles – NFTs, Tokenized Art and Media: Outside SEC Jurisdiction.
3. Digital instruments are utility tokens within protocols.
4. Stablecoins are a separate category with the first federal legal definition.
5. And the only category under the SEC: digital securities – tokenized stocks, bonds and treasury instruments.

Important disclaimer

The document is an interpretive guide, not a law. It carries the full legal weight of the agency’s position, but in order to become permanent, it needs the CLARITY Act. The bill passed the House of Representatives in July 2025 with a score of 294–134, and passed the Senate Agriculture Committee in January 2026. The next step is a markup in the Senate Banking Committee. Polymarket gives a 72% probability of adoption in 2026. Atkins promised to launch formal rulemaking “in a week or two” and release more than 400 pages of additional proposals, including “innovative exceptions” for startups.

📌 Key facts
▸ Document: Interpretive Release No. 33-11412, 68 pages, joint SEC + CFTC, March 17, 2026
▸ All 17 coins: BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, AVAX, LINK, DOT, HBAR, XLM, LTC, BCH, XTZ, APT, ALGO, DOGE, SHIB
▸ Explicitly removed from SEC: mining, staking, airdrops, token wrapping
▸ Only tokenized traditional securities (stocks, bonds) remain under SEC
▸ Status: interpretive guidance – full legal weight, but not law; need CLARITY Act
▸ CLARITY Act: Polymarket 72% probability of acceptance; the next step is a markup in the Senate Banking Committee
▸ Next from the SEC: formal rulemaking in 1–2 weeks, 400+ pages with “innovative exceptions”

What does this mean for the cryptocurrency market

The document directly removes the legal canopy from the 17 largest assets. For ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, AVAX, DOT and HBAR, this is a fundamental revaluation: security risk no longer hangs over them like the sword of Damocles. Including DOGE and SHIB on the same list as Bitcoin and Ethereum is something that seemed impossible five years ago.

For exchanges, the path to listing without fear of an SEC lawsuit has been cleared. For ETF providers, SOL, XRP and ADA ETFs have received fundamental regulatory justification. The only risk: if the CLARITY Act does not pass before the November 2026 elections, the next administration could theoretically rewrite these rules.⚠️ The material is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation.