SEC and CFTC Issue New Crypto Guidance

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• Bybit x Block Scholes: “2026: It's Different This Time?”

Market Snapshot: Overnight Moves

Daily Updates:

• After briefly exceeding $76K in early Asia trading yesterday, BTC ended its eight-day winning streak in yesterday’s session and now trades around $74K. 
• Spot price action is also being supported by continued ETF demand — yesterday, Spot Bitcoin ETFs purchased an additional $199.4M worth of bitcoins, extending their inflow streak now to seven sessions, the longest streak since October 2025. 
• In Wall Street, US equities modestly extended their gains from Tuesday, with the S&P 500 index closing up 0.25% higher, while the Nasdaq-100 index finished +0.51%. The modest gain in US equities occurred alongside a slight easing in oil prices from their session highs — Brent crude currently trades around $103, while WTI trades around $94. 

• The Middle East war, now in its third week, still shows little signs of de-escalation. Israel said yesterday that it had killed Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, to which Iran’s army chief Amir Hatami responded by vowing "Iran's response to the assassination of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council will be decisive and regrettable". 
• According to a number of news sources, Larijani is the most prominent figure in Iran to have been killed since the death of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said earlier today that the global repercussions of the war, particularly in oil prices, "has only just begun and will hit all".

• Over in the US, after criticising NATO countries on Monday for not coming to the aid of the US in securing the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said at the White House yesterday “This was a great test [to NATO] because we don’t need them, but they should have been there”. He warned that their decision to not get involved in the war was a “foolish mistake”. 
• Trump did not provide a timeline on how much longer the war will last though he said “we’re not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the near future.”
• His National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC earlier this week that the war could be a “four-to-six week operation” and that anything longer could “hurt consumers”. 

• Speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, D.C., SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins stated that the SEC is implementing a token taxonomy alongside a joint SEC–CFTC interpretation clarifying how federal securities laws apply to certain crypto assets and related transactions.
• This framework establishes four categories of crypto assets that are not considered securities: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, and payment stablecoins.
• He emphasized that only one category, digital securities, meaning traditional securities that have been tokenized, remains clearly subject to securities laws. 
• However, he noted that even crypto assets that are not inherently securities may still fall under securities regulations if they are offered as part of an investment contract.
• The joint interpretation provides guidance on the definition of a “security” in the context of crypto and confirms that certain non-security crypto assets may qualify as “commodities” under the Commodity Exchange Act. 
• It also further clarifies how securities laws apply to specific crypto-related activities, including airdrops, protocol mining, protocol staking, and the wrapping of non-security crypto assets. 

• Moody’s announced Tuesday the launch of its new network-agnostic Token Integration Engine (TIE).
• The first rollout is on the Canton Network, where Moody’s is also operating a node, embedding credit insight directly into blockchain-based financial workflows rather than leaving it as a separate off-chain input. 

• Ripple is expanding its presence in Brazil by broadening its digital asset services, introducing an integrated platform for payments, custody, and trading, and planning to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider licence with the Central Bank as part of the country’s evolving regulatory framework.

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