Connect with us
DAPA Banner

Crypto World

What the SEC and CFTC’s New Guidance Actually Means for Your Crypto

Published

on

What the SEC and CFTC’s New Guidance Actually Means for Your Crypto


The joint decision is historic, but what does it mean specifically for your crypto portfolio?

For years now, the entire cryptocurrency industry has operated under a fog of regulatory uncertainty. Investors and developers alike were wondering which crypto asset the U.S. government might suddenly decide to classify as an unregistered security. Take Ripple’s XRP, for instance – one of the most obvious examples. The company was tangled in a prolonged lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which lasted roughly half a decade, casting the shadow of ambiguity over an entire cohort of investors.

That era, however, effectively ended on March 17th, when the SEC, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), issued a landmark joint interpretive guidance.

Advertisement

The core takeaway, stated by the Chairman of the SEC, Paul Atkins, represents a true paradigm shift:

Most crypto assets are not themselves securities. – He said.

But while significant and historic, what does it all mean for the regular Joe? Here is a breakdown of what this decision means for your crypto portfolio, your staking yields, and your airdrops.

Staking and Airdrops: The Rules of Engagement

Staking and airdrops are perhaps two of the more common ways many retail crypto investors participate in decentralized networks. They have also historically been some of the biggest legal gray areas. The new joint guidance draws some clear and actionable lines for both of these.

First things first, for staking, the regulatory status would now depend on the structure of operation. If you are participating in protocol-level staking (read: locking up your tokens in order to secure a blockchain network like Ethereum, for example, and earning automated and pre-determined protocol rewards), this particular activity would generally fall outside of the scope of securities laws.

Advertisement

However, if you use a centralized, third-party service that pools investor funds and then promises a return based on its own managerial efforts, chances are regulators will still classify that yield product as a security (an investment contract).

You may also like:

Moving on to airdrops. These face a relatively similar test depending on context. Tokens that are distributed freely to a community, without requiring a financial investment or promising future profits based on the centralized team’s efforts, are currently a lot less likely to be classified as securities. On the other hand, if the airdrop is advertised and used explicitly to promote an investment opportunity, promising future returns based on the team’s efforts, it may still draw the scrutiny of the SEC.

A New Taxonomy for Digital Assets

If you’ve been around in crypto for a while, you know that there’s been an overlapping jurisdictional battle that has simply plagued the industry for years. The new joint guidance establishes a formal token classification framework. This taxonomy categorizes digital assets into distinct groups.

  • Digital Commodities: These fall primarily under CFTC jurisdiction and concern assets that function primarily as a decentralized medium of exchange or store of value.
  • Digital Collectibles: These are unique digital items and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
  • Digital Tools: These are utility tokens used to access or operate software applications or networks.
  • Stablecoins: Digital assets pegged to fiat currencies.
  • Digital Securities: Tokens that represent traditional investment contracts, equity, or profit-sharing agreements.

Essentially, by effectively separating the underying digital asset from the transaction itself, both regulators have provided a rather coherent roadmap for developers to build networks that are compliant without the constant fear of arbitrary enforcement.

Conclusion: What the SEC/CFTC’s New Guidance Means for Your Crypto

For everyday crypto investors, this guidance is a massive de-risking event. The Chairman of the CFTC said that the goal is to further foster an environment where the entire industry can flourish with “clear and rational rules of the road.”

Advertisement

Speaking practically, this means that major altcoins are much less likely to face sudden delistings from U.S. exchanges due to unexpected regulatory lawsuits or even the fear of them.

Moreover, it paves the way for a robust integration of digital assets into traditional finance – something that we have already seen starting to take shape. Recall that Mastercard enlisted Ripple, Binance, and other firms in a new crypto partnership, seeking to further integrate crypto into mainstream commerce.

Of course, the decision doesn’t necessarily guarantee the market success of any individual token,  but at the very least it removes the heavy regulatory overhang that has suppressed US-based crypto markets (and arguably globally) for years.

SPECIAL OFFER (Exclusive)

Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).
Advertisement

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Crypto World

Analyst Warns BTC Dominance Break Will Dictate Whether Alts Explode or Collapse

Published

on

Who Really Holds the Most Bitcoin (BTC)?


ETH is up 22% year-on-year while Bitcoin has shed nearly 11% over the same stretch, a divergence that is starting to show up in the charts.

Bitcoin’s market share is stuck between 58% and 60%, which is a six-month trading range that one expert says will decide whether Ethereum and smaller altcoins enter a bullish season or suffer more losses.

As such, the market observer urged keeping an eye on the level at which dominance could break, ushering in the next big move in the crypto market.

Advertisement

The Narrow Corridor Controlling Crypto’s Fate

Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D), which measures how much of the total cryptocurrency market cap BTC makes up, was stuck between 58% and 60% for the last 6 months. But according to analyst Ash Crypto, this consolidation has created a technical setup where a break above 60% could send dominance up to 63% or 64%.

And if that happened, it would mean that institutions are only buying Bitcoin, causing altcoins to bleed further and pushing the value of the ETH/BTC pair to new lows.

On the other hand, a break below 58% would mean that capital is leaving Bitcoin and going into Ethereum and other altcoins. The analysts said that this would confirm an ETH/BTC breakout above the 0.0320 level, which would mark the start of a genuine altcoin season.

The ETH/BTC pair itself is printing what Ash Crypto described as a bear trap, something it has done twice before.

Advertisement

“Break above 0.0320 and ETH starts outperforming Bitcoin,” the expert wrote. “Break below 0.0280 and new lows follow.”

At the time of writing, ETH/BTC was trading close to 0.0314, just below the critical threshold Ash Crypto had identified.

You may also like:

Ethereum’s Technical Picture Gets Interesting

BTC itself has been mostly flat over the past 24 hours, staying just above $74,000 after hitting a six-week high of about $76,000 on Coinbase on Tuesday. However, there’s much more action over longer periods, with the asset up more than 6% in the last seven days and about 8% across 30 days.

Ethereum has had a pretty good performance in the last few weeks, going up about 14% in the last seven days and about 18% in both the last 14 and 30 days. At the time of writing, it was trading above the $2,300 level, up 22% from the same time last year, compared to BTC’s nearly 11% drop in the same period.

At the same time, ETH’s SuperTrend indicator changed from “Sell” to “Buy” for the first time since September 2025. Recall, the last two times that signal showed up, the cryptocurrency rose by 52% and 174%, respectively, prompting analyst Ali Martinez to identify $2,400 and $2,600 as the next levels to watch.

Advertisement
SPECIAL OFFER (Exclusive)

Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Crypto World

3 Reasons This Drone Stock Soared 520% and Is Up Another 32% Today

Published

on

3 Reasons This Drone Stock Soared 520% and Is Up Another 32% Today

3 Reasons This Drone Stock Soared 520% and Is Up Another 32% Today

Source link

Continue Reading

Crypto World

BTC price treads water near $74,000 as derivatives signal caution: Crypto Markets Today

Published

on

Fed headlines central bank rate decisions, Gemini earnings: Crypto Week Ahead

Bitcoin consolidated following Tuesday’s jump to $76,000 alongside a 33% drop in daily trading volume to $36.9 billion.

The largest cryptocurrency has added just 0.4% since midnight UTC after bouncing off $73,500 as it looks to establish a new level of support ahead of a potential bullish breakout.

While analysts predicted a fast move to $80,000 after $72,000 was taken out, price action has actually been much more measured. Traders with long positions took profits and those who were forced out of short positions are waiting on the sidelines to reenter.

Volatility has also retreated in commodities gold, silver and crude oil, with the war in Iran continuing to put complete risk-on mode on hold.

Advertisement

U.S. stocks are beginning to experience a period of prolonged upside; Nasdaq 100 futures are up 0.66% since midnight UTC, followed by the S&P 500, which has gained 0.5%.

Investors will be keeping a close eye on Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting because although a rate pause is all but certain, increased inflation numbers due to the surge in oil prices and weaker job numbers in the U.S. could influence sentiment at the post-decision press conference.

Derivatives positioning

  • Growth in bitcoin futures open interest (OI) on major exchanges has stalled alongside slightly negative fund rates. That’s a sign that traders are not adding new bullish positions and bears are getting a slight edge.
  • OI in ETH, XRP and SOL fell from early Tuesday highs as spot prices lost bull momentum. This suggests traders are unwinding positions, pointing to a cooling of speculative activity.
  • OI in privacy-focused ZEC, which has gained nearly 4% in 24 hours and 31% in a week, has risen to 1.75 million ZEC, the most since Jan. 25. The increase in OI validates the recent price rise.
  • Funding rates for XRP, BNB and SOL have flipped negative, indicating a bias for bearish short positions. Traders may be hedging for potential downside volatility after the Fed meeting.
  • Bitcoin’s one-day implied volatility, or the expected price swing over 24 hours, remains steady at around an annualised 50%. That equates to a 24-hour move of about 2.6%. In other words, the market doesn’t see the impending Fed meeting as a major price mover for the largest cryptocurrency.
  • The same can be said for ether, solana and XRP.
  • On Deribit, options market positioning looks defensive in both bitcoin and ether, with skews showing a bias for put, or bearish, options.
  • Block flows featured demand for limited profit potential strategies such as bitcoin call diagonal spreads and volatility bets like straddles. In ETH’s case, traders preferred risk reversals and straddles.

Token talk

  • The altcoin market continues to show strength with the “Altcoin Season” index hitting its highest in six months. The reading of 54/100 is a far cry from early February, when it languished at 22/100.
  • Privacy coin zcash (ZEC) was one of the best-performing altcoins on Wednesday, adding 3.4% since midnight despite the rest of the market trading relatively unchanged. It has now increased by 32% in the past week.
  • Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending token MORPHO also continued its rich vein of form after rising by 2.3% since midnight to add to a monthly gain of 33%.
  • The best-performing benchmark over the past 24 hours has been the
    CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index (SCPXC), with the index heavily weighted towards layer-1 tokens posting a 0.8% gain, while the CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) lost ground, tumbling by 2.7%.

Source link

Continue Reading

Crypto World

Ripple Expands Brazil Push as RLUSD Gains Institutional Use

Published

on

Crypto Breaking News

Ripple has expanded its financial infrastructure in Brazil, targeting deeper institutional adoption and regulatory approval. The company introduced payments, custody, and treasury tools for local institutions. Meanwhile, it plans to secure a Virtual Asset Service Provider license under Brazil’s evolving digital asset framework.

Ripple Expands Enterprise Services in Brazil

Ripple has launched a full enterprise platform tailored for Brazil’s financial institutions. The rollout includes cross-border payments, custody solutions, and treasury management tools. Moreover, the company added prime brokerage features to extend services beyond basic payment rails.

The expansion aligns with Brazil’s structured regulatory push for digital assets and financial innovation. Ripple continues to focus on compliance while scaling operations in regulated markets. Therefore, the planned VASP license application supports its long-term presence in the country.

Brazil offers a mature financial ecosystem, which attracts global fintech firms seeking growth opportunities. Ripple has maintained a regional focus due to increasing demand for efficient settlement systems. Consequently, the company positions its infrastructure as a solution for modern financial operations.

Advertisement

Institutional Adoption and RLUSD Growth

Ripple Payments now operates across more than 60 markets and has processed over $100 billion globally. The platform enables faster settlement using both fiat currencies and stablecoins. Additionally, several Brazilian institutions actively use the network for payments and liquidity management.

Banco Genial uses Ripple’s system for same-day U.S. dollar disbursements and plans to integrate RLUSD into payment flows. Braza Bank supports U.S. dollar transfers and issued its BBRL stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. Meanwhile, Nomad manages treasury flows between Brazil and the United States using Ripple infrastructure.

Other firms continue to adopt Ripple’s tools for various financial operations across the region. Azify supports currency exchange into major global currencies using the Ripple system. Similarly, Attrus and Frente Corretora use the platform for cross-border payments and foreign exchange settlements.

RLUSD adoption continues to rise across Latin America, supported by institutional demand for liquidity solutions. The stablecoin has surpassed a $1.5 billion market capitalization. Furthermore, regulators in the United States oversee RLUSD through established financial authorities.

Advertisement

Ripple Custody has also expanded into Brazil, offering secure digital asset storage for institutions. The platform integrates compliance tools and supports staking across multiple proof-of-stake networks. As a result, firms such as CRX and Justoken now use custody services for tokenized asset operations.

CRX has settled nearly $100 million on-chain using Ripple Custody and XRPL infrastructure. Meanwhile, Justoken has tokenized over $1.7 billion in assets and plans regional expansion. This growth reflects increasing institutional reliance on blockchain-based financial systems.

RLUSD now trades on platforms such as Mercado Bitcoin, Foxbit, and Ripio across Brazil. Additionally, several financial institutions support the stablecoin for treasury and settlement use cases. This integration strengthens Ripple’s broader payments ecosystem across Latin America.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Crypto World

UK Parliamentary Committee Urges Ban on Political Crypto Donations

Published

on

UK Parliamentary Committee Urges Ban on Political Crypto Donations

A cross-party parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom has urged the government to impose an immediate moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to political parties until stronger safeguards are in place.

In a report published on Wednesday, the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said the government should amend the Representation of the People Bill to impose an “immediate moratorium on crypto donations” until the Electoral Commission produces statutory guidance ahead of the next general election, due by August 2029.

The committee also called for the creation of a Political Finance Enforcement Unit to oversee these activities and reduce the minimum threshold for declaring gifts tied to political donations from 11,180 British pounds ($14,900) to 500 pounds ($668), and proposed increasing the maximum custodial sentences to three years for wrongdoing involving foreign financing.

The committee cited growing foreign state threats and efforts to influence the UK’s positions on critical issues, including its relations with the US, the European Union and Ukraine.

Advertisement

The recommendation comes amid rising scrutiny of crypto-linked money in British politics. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK became the first party to start accepting crypto donations in 2025. Reform UK recently disclosed a $4 million donation from crypto investor Christopher Harborne in the fourth quarter of 2025, after a record $12 million gift in the previous quarter.

“Political finance and foreign influence” report. Source: The UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy

Crypto donations pose “unnecessary” risk for UK politics

Crypto donations pose an “unnecessary and unacceptably high risk” to the integrity of the political finance system and public trust, barring robust regulator guardrails, the report states.

“We see no democratic imperative to permit the use of crypto in political finance until adequate safeguards are in place.”

The committee also cited jurisdictions, such as Ireland, that have banned party members from accepting political cryptocurrency donations due to foreign interference concerns.

The report comes shortly after Matt Western, chair of the committee, urged the government to put a temporary halt on crypto donations to political parties, citing foreign interference risks, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 26.

Related: UK Lords launch stablecoin inquiry as Bank of England moves to finalize rules

Advertisement

Crypto donations raise concern in the UK

Political cryptocurrency donations are legal in the UK, subject to permissible rules under the Electoral Commission guidance. UK lawmakers reportedly started considering a ban on political cryptocurrency donations in December 2025.

Weeks later, seven senior UK Labour Party MPs have urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to ban crypto for political donations, Cointelegraph reported on Jan. 12. 

“Crypto can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to foreign interference,” wrote business and trade committee chair Liam Byrne, one of the seven signatories of the letter.