SEC Classifies Bitcoin, Ether, Solana as Digital Commodities in New Howey Framework[1][3][7]
On April 20, 2026, the SEC issued interpretive guidance establishing a framework for analyzing whether digital assets qualify as investment contracts under the Howey test. The guidance classifies crypto-assets into five categories: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities. Significantly, the SEC explicitly designated a dozen to sixteen major crypto-assets as digital commodities—including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Cardano, XRP, Avalanche, Polkadot, Chainlink, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu—meaning they fall outside the securities framework. Only digital securities are inherently regulated as securities; the other categories may trigger securities laws only if their sales satisfy all three prongs of the Howey test: investment of money, common enterprise, and expectation of profits from others' efforts. The CFTC has endorsed this approach under the Commodity Exchange Act, signaling regulatory alignment.