CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig has named Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Stellar, Tezos and XRP as digital commodities, the agency confirmed this week, drawing on a joint SEC and CFTC interpretive release that sorted 16 major tokens out of securities territory. Selig and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins presented the guidance together at the DC Blockchain Summit on March 17, 2026.

The move ends years of ambiguity for six of the largest non-stablecoin crypto assets and shifts day-to-day supervision from the SEC to the CFTC for spot-market activity. It also sets up a parallel fight over trading rules that the CFTC plans to launch before any congressional framework arrives.

Where did the classification come from?

The interpretive release clarified how the agencies read existing statutes rather than awaiting congressional action. SEC and CFTC staff organized digital assets into five buckets: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. Only the last bucket typically falls under US securities law.

The guidance also addressed mining and staking, labeling those activities as permissible on digital commodities. Token issuers, exchanges and custodians gain a clearer playbook for US-based operations, though compliance obligations for anti-fraud and anti-manipulation enforcement remain under the CFTC.

Why does the XRP inclusion matter most?

Of the six named commodities, XRP carries the heaviest litigation history. Ripple fought the SEC in court from late 2020 through the agency's change in leadership, arguing that programmatic sales of XRP did not constitute securities offerings. Both parties dropped their remaining appeals in August 2025.

Under the March 2026 framework, the agencies concluded that XRP's programmatic sales do not constitute securities transactions. Token holders, exchanges and market makers now have a more durable legal status for the asset, even as XRP-derivatives and spot trading still face CFTC anti-manipulation rules.

Does "digital commodity" mean unregulated?

No. The guidance confirms that digital commodities remain under CFTC anti-fraud and anti-manipulation jurisdiction in spot markets. The release also notes that regulators retain authority to pursue fraudulent activity across the digital asset space, regardless of category.

For exchanges and custodians, onboarding procedures, market surveillance systems and disclosure protocols stay in place. They simply shift from SEC to CFTC oversight.

What is the CFTC planning next?

Selig used an October 5, 2026 appearance to announce the agency's intention to advance new regulations covering leveraged retail trading of digital assets. Those proposals could establish new frameworks under what industry observers have labeled Regulation CTX and Regulation CAM. Neither framework has been formally proposed in the CFTC's rulemaking pipeline.

Can this guidance hold over the long term?

Not without statutory backup. The CLARITY Act, which aimed to set a full market structure framework for digital assets, has stalled in Congress. Comprehensive rules still require legislative action, and guidance issued under one set of agency heads can be revisited by their successors.

The CFTC's leverage-trading proposal will offer the first concrete read on how durable the joint framework turns out to be — and whether the agencies can write the next chapter of digital-asset regulation without Congress, or whether the long-running CLARITY Act path resumes first.