SEC Gives Crypto Its Strongest Signal Yet

Camila Russo & Olivia Capozzalo
March 20, 2026

Happy Friday, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

• The era of broad regulatory uncertainty for crypto is over, as the SEC and CFTC jointly release sweeping guidance that finally gives the industry a clear path to follow.

In other news:

• Amundi launches fund on Ethereum and Stellar
• BTCfi protocol OP_NET launches on Bitcoin L1
• MLB, Polymarket announce partnership
• WhiteBIT and 10 Other Firms Enter Ghana's First Crypto Regulatory Sandbox [MEDIA PARTNER]

Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.

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📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

	TICKER	VALUE	24H
	Bitcoin	$69,942	0.60 %
	Ethereum	$2,135.71	0.37 %
	XRP	$1.44	-0.15 %
	BNB	$640.66	0.35 %
	Solana	$89.35	1.92 %

Today’s Big Story

The SEC Finally Said What Crypto Always Knew

We want to end the week by highlighting the joint SEC/CFTC crypto guidance, as it risks getting overshadowed with agentic payment news and macro jitters, even as it's likely one of the most significant developments the blockchain industry has seen.

For years, the question of whether your token was a security — namely under U.S. law — depended less on what it actually was and more on whether a regulator had decided to make an example of you. There were no set rules that recognized blockchain assets’ unique features, and existing securities laws were selectively applied. Uncertainty was a feature, not a bug.

That era is over. This week, the SEC and CFTC jointly released a 68-page interpretive guidance that does something prior administrations refused to do: it tells you, affirmatively and in writing, what is not a security. Bitcoin is not a security. Ether is not a security. Solana, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Dogecoin — not securities. Mining rewards are not securities transactions. Staking rewards are not securities transactions. Whole NFTs are not securities. Stablecoins (from approved issuers) are not securities.

The Gensler-era SEC operated from the presumption that everything was a security until proven otherwise, and it rarely gave you a chance to prove otherwise outside of a courtroom. This guidance inverts that presumption. Three of the five categories in the new taxonomy — which classifies crypto assets as digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities — are explicitly non-securities. The default has flipped.

The jurisdictional picture has clarified too. For the first time, both agencies have co-signed a framework that says, in effect, here is where the SEC's authority ends and the CFTC's begins. Digital commodities go to the CFTC. Digital securities stay with the SEC.

The harder questions are still open, though (we wrote more about that here). Who decides when a token has shed its investment contract status and how? What does this framework mean for a fully permissionless DeFi protocol with no identifiable issuer?

What happens to the fractionalized NFT protocols already operating in what the guidance now explicitly calls securities territory? The guidance does not answer all of these questions.

But for the first time in years, the industry has a clear path to follow.

None of this is legally binding in the way that formal rulemaking would be. An interpretive release carries persuasive weight; it tells you how the current commission sees the law. But a future commission could reverse it. Chairman Atkins has said formal rules are coming, and until they arrive, the guidance is just a signal, but it’s the strongest one crypto has ever had.

With love,

Cami, founder of The Defiant

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🎬WATCH

Will Aave’s New Plan Change DeFi Forever? | Stani Kulechov Explains

In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sits down with Aave founder Stani Kulechov.

Aave is navigating a pivotal moment with the recent "Aave Will Win" proposal. This initiative aims to redirect 100% of protocol revenue back to the Aave DAO, a move that many in the community have embraced. But with any major change comes scrutiny.

Watch the full interview:

Top News in the Past 24 Hours

Amundi Launches Tokenized Swap Fund on Ethereum and Stellar

Amundi and tokenized fund platform Spiko have launched the Spiko Amundi Overnight Swap Fund (SAFO), a tokenized UCITS vehicle with its shareholder register hosted on Ethereum and Stellar, with Chainlink providing on-chain NAV oracle infrastructure.

Why it matters: Amundi is Europe’s largest asset manager with €2.4 trillion in AUM.

Bitcoin Gets Native DeFi Stack as OP_NET Goes Live on Mainnet

OP_NET, a smart contract protocol that embeds execution directly into standard Bitcoin transactions, activated on Bitcoin Layer 1 this week, alongside a live DeFi stack.

Why it matters: The OP_NET team introduced the move as a first of its kind for Bitcoin, differentiating it from sidechains, bridges, and wrapped assets that generally make up BTCfi’s current state.

Polymarket Becomes MLB’s Exclusive Prediction Market Partner

Major League Baseball (MLB) on Thursday named Polymarket its official prediction market exchange partner and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, marking the regulator's first such agreement with a major U.S. sports league.

Why it matters: The partnership caps a remarkable ascent for the on-chain marketplace, which has evolved from a niche DeFi protocol into a mainstream news source.

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