TLDR
US regulators have now formally treated Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and XRP as digital commodities in key SEC and CFTC actions.
- An SEC order for a Nasdaq Texas crypto trust and a joint SECCFTC interpretation both explicitly list BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP as digital commodities.
- For these four assets, this pushes regulation toward a commodity style regime, supporting ETF structures and reducing the risk that normal secondary trading is later called securities dealing.
- Uncertainty remains for most other tokens, and the big next steps are the CLARITY Act in Congress and the SECs Regulation Crypto Assets rulemaking.
Deep Dive
1. What Has Been Officially Decided
On 4 September 2026, the SEC issued Order No. 34?106268 for Nasdaq Texas trust standards, defining digital commodity in its rulebook and using a worked example of a trust holding Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and XRP, which it describes as digital commodities that currently meet the eligibility criteria for the products rules. This language is reported in detail in coverage of the Nasdaq Texas order.
That order sits on top of a 17 March 2026 joint SEC and CFTC interpretation that published an explicit list of crypto commodities including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and several others such as ADA, AVAX, DOGE, SHIB, and LINK, again treating them as commodities rather than securities.
These are not new statutes from Congress, but they are formal agency actions that courts and markets will treat as strong guidance on how the regulators view these assets today.
2. Why Commodity Status Matters For BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP
Treating these four as commodities aligns them with assets like gold rather than stocks. Spot BTC and ETH products in the United States already use commodity trust structures instead of traditional 1940?Act ETFs, and the new Nasdaq Texas framework extends this model to multi?asset products that include SOL and XRP.
In parallel, the CLARITY Act framework would give the CFTC primary authority over qualifying digital commodities while leaving fundraising and investment contract issues with the SEC, so secondary trading in sufficiently decentralized tokens migrates to a commodity regime instead of perpetual securities risk. Analysis of CLARITY emphasizes that Bitcoin is already in this bucket, while ETH and XRP were previously in a grey zone that this joint interpretation now helps to resolve.
For these four assets, the risk that normal exchange or ETF trades are later recharacterized as securities transactions is lower, which tends to support deeper institutional participation and more stable market structure.
3. What Is Still Unclear And What To Watch
Most other tokens remain in a hybrid or uncertain category, where fundraising can be treated as a securities offering even if the token someday functions like a commodity. The March interpretation lists more coins as commodities, but that list is not exhaustive and can evolve.
The CLARITY Act, which would codify a securities versus commodities split into law, faces a key Senate cloture vote and is not yet guaranteed to pass, as noted in recent coverage of its prospects. At the same time, the SECs proposed Regulation Crypto Assets would create exemptions and a safe harbor for tokens that become sufficiently decentralized, but that rule is still in the public comment stage.
Until Congress acts, regulators can still bring enforcement cases on fraud, deceptive marketing, or unregistered securities offerings around these assets, even while treating the underlying tokens as commodities in most trading contexts.
Conclusion
BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP now sit in a small group of crypto assets that U.S. regulators explicitly treat as digital commodities, giving them clearer regulatory footing for spot trading and ETF style products. The bigger picture for the rest of the market still depends on whether Congress passes the CLARITY Act and how the SEC finalizes Regulation Crypto Assets, so the main thing to monitor is how far this commodity treatment spreads beyond the current short list.
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