In its official explanatory document released on March 17, 2026, the SEC
added a batch of tokens to its list of digital commodities.
Digital commodities have largely circumvented securities laws. Here is a complete list:
The first tier consists of 16 tokens that are relatively stable under the digital commodities category:
$BTC (Bitcoin), $ETH (Ethereum), $XRP (Ripple), $SOL (Solana),
$ADA (Cardano), $DOGE (Dogecoin), $SHIB (Shiba Inu Coin), $LINK (Chainlink),
$AVAX (Avalanche), $APT (Aptos), $HBAR (Hedera), $LTC (Litecoin),
$DOT (Polkadot), $XLM (Stellar), $XTZ (Tezos), $BCH (Bitcoin Cash)
Additionally, $ALGO (Algorand) and $LBC (LBRY Credits) were also unexpectedly designated as digital commodities by the SEC.
The most controversial issue is $XRP. The SEC included $XRP in its list of digital goods in 2026, but courts still held that some sales of XRP were subject to securities laws.
Therefore, the SEC emphasized that while the token itself is not a security, this does not mean that all issuance, sales, and packaging methods of the token are not securities. It's somewhat like they created a separate package for XRP.
The secondary market's direction is now largely set, and subsequent regulations will likely be clearer. Following the US lead will at least ensure survival until the next cycle, especially if the next altcoin boom is a digital goods boom.
