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Crypto Law/Level III · Tokens and securities law/3.2 US rules in motion/Lesson 2

The SEC’s 2025 change of course

How a new SEC leadership in 2025 replaced case-by-case enforcement with a task force, staff statements and, by 2026, a formal Commission interpretation of when crypto assets are securities.

Education, not legal, tax or investment advice. Crypto law differs between countries and states and changes often. Check the current rules where you live with a qualified lawyer or tax adviser before you act.

The lean path

The cheapest, lowest-tax, simplest and most private route the law allows, best first. Each step names the rule it rests on and the condition that keeps it lawful.

  1. Zero-registration activities under 2025 SEC staff statements: protocol mining (20 March 2025), protocol staking of your own tokens (29 May 2025) and covered one-for-one dollar stablecoins (4 April 2025); staff statements have no legal force, and rewards remain taxable income (Rev. Rul. 2023-14; Notice 2014-21).
  2. Under the Commission’s March 2026 interpretation, digital commodities, digital collectibles and digital tools are not securities in themselves, so holding, trading and building on them needs no securities registration; the catch is that issuer promises of managerial effort can still create an investment contract.
  3. Self-custody of non-security tokens requires no licence or SEC filing; ordinary tax reporting still applies, including the Form 1040 digital-asset question and Form 1099-DA from brokers. Policy changes fast, so check the Crypto Task Force page before relying on any position.
  4. Plan for reversal: none of this is statute, private plaintiffs can still sue, and a future Commission could revise the interpretation. Keeping launches free of profit promises protects a project under either policy at no extra cost.

MaterialsSEC press release 2025-30 (21 January 2025) creating the Crypto Task Force, and the Task Force’s page on sec.govThe SEC/CFTC interpretation ‘Application of the Federal Securities Laws to Certain Types of Crypto Assets’ (91 FR 13714, 23 March 2026)Chairman Paul Atkins’s speech ‘American Leadership in the Digital Finance Revolution’ (31 July 2025), which launched Project Crypto

Wonder

  1. What exactly changed at the SEC in 2025, and in what order?
  2. Is a staff statement or a Commission interpretation the same as a law?
  3. Could the next SEC simply change course again?

Explore

  1. The change began with the new administration. On 21 January 2025 Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda launched a Crypto Task Force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, to develop ‘a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets’ (press release 2025-30). Two days later the staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122, effective 30 January 2025. It rescinded the guidance in SAB 121 on accounting for obligations to safeguard crypto assets that an entity holds for its platform users. These were the first signals that crypto policy would now be made through open processes rather than mainly through lawsuits (lesson 3.2.1).
  2. Enforcement priorities shifted next. On 20 February 2025 the SEC replaced its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit with a Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit of about 30 fraud specialists and attorneys, focused on fraud and on protecting retail investors. On 27 February 2025 it filed a joint stipulation to dismiss its case against Coinbase, citing the Task Force’s pending work. Acting Chairman Uyeda said the Commission’s crypto views had been ‘largely expressed through enforcement actions without engaging the general public’. Fraud cases continued, but registration-only cases against platforms and token issuers were no longer the main tool.
  3. Much of the 2025 guidance came as staff statements from the Division of Corporation Finance. Statements on meme coins (27 February, lesson 3.2.3), proof-of-work mining (20 March), US-dollar stablecoins redeemable one-for-one (4 April) and protocol staking (29 May) each explained why, in the staff’s view, the described activity did not involve the offer or sale of securities. Each was narrow: it covered only the facts it described. The meme coin statement itself notes that staff statements have no legal force or effect, do not change the law, and are neither approved nor disapproved by the Commission.
  4. Paul Atkins was sworn in as the 34th SEC Chairman on 21 April 2025, after Senate confirmation on 9 April. On 31 July 2025, following the President’s Working Group report ‘Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology’, he announced Project Crypto, a Commission-wide initiative to modernise securities rules so that markets can move ‘on-chain’. On 29 January 2026 Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig announced that Project Crypto would continue as a joint SEC-CFTC effort. This mattered because many tokens sit on the line between the two agencies (lesson 1.2.7).
  5. The most important step came in 2026. On 17 March 2026 the Commission, with CFTC guidance attached, adopted an interpretation (Release No. 33-11412), effective 23 March. It sorts crypto assets into digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. It explains why the first three are not securities in themselves, treats tokenized securities as securities, and relies largely on the GENIUS Act for stablecoins (lesson 3.2.4). It explains when a non-security asset becomes subject to an investment contract through an issuer’s promises of essential managerial efforts, and addresses mining, staking, wrapping and airdrops. In August 2026 the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets (lesson 3.2.6).
  6. None of this is a statute. A Commission interpretation carries more weight than a staff statement, but courts decide what the securities laws mean, and private plaintiffs can still bring securities claims. A future Commission could revise the interpretation, and fraud and manipulation remain illegal whatever a token’s label. The lasting change would come from Congress (lesson 3.2.5), whose market-structure bill was still pending in October 2026. A practical check: for any SEC position, note its date and who issued it (staff, Commission or court), and look up the current list of releases on the SEC’s Crypto Task Force page.

Key facts

  • Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda launched the SEC Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, on 21 January 2025.
  • Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122, issued 23 January 2025 and effective 30 January 2025, rescinded the crypto safeguarding accounting guidance in SAB 121.
  • The SEC filed a joint stipulation to dismiss its enforcement action against Coinbase on 27 February 2025.
  • Paul Atkins was sworn in as SEC Chairman on 21 April 2025 and announced Project Crypto on 31 July 2025.
  • On 17 March 2026 the SEC adopted an interpretation, effective 23 March 2026, sorting crypto assets into five categories, with CFTC guidance attached.
  • SEC staff statements state that they have no legal force or effect and are not approved or disapproved by the Commission.

Exercise nine, six, three, one

9CollectList up to 9 SEC documents or actions on crypto from 2025 or 2026 that you have read about, such as a staff statement, a dismissal, a speech or a Commission release (some lists are shorter).
6ClusterSort them into 6 categories: Commission interpretations, proposed rules, staff statements, staff accounting bulletins, enforcement decisions, and speeches or announcements.
3DistillReduce the 6 categories to 3 groups: actions the full Commission voted on, staff views, and statements of intent.
1CrystallizeWrite 1 sentence explaining, in your own words, why a 2025 staff statement gives less certainty than an act of Congress.

Fact check

Dates, figures and claims checked against the published sources listed below.

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