---
type: entity
entity_type: policy
name: "SEC Token Taxonomy Framework (2026)"
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: [grand-strategy]
status: active
tracked_by: rio
created: 2026-03-18
last_updated: 2026-03-18
tags: [sec, cftc, regulation, howey-test, securities, commodities, token-taxonomy]
supports:
- the SECs distinction between the crypto asset and the investment contract means tokens are not inherently securities and only the surrounding transaction structure can create securities obligations
reweave_edges:
- the SECs distinction between the crypto asset and the investment contract means tokens are not inherently securities and only the surrounding transaction structure can create securities obligations|supports|2026-04-19
---

# SEC Token Taxonomy Framework (2026)

## Overview

Joint SEC/CFTC interpretive release (S7-2026-09, March 17, 2026) establishing the first formal US framework for classifying crypto assets. Creates five mutually exclusive categories — digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, payment stablecoins, and digital securities — with only the last subject to SEC securities laws. The framework's investment contract termination doctrine formally decouples tokens from securities status and creates pathways for tokens to transition from SEC to CFTC jurisdiction.

## Current State

- **Release:** S7-2026-09 (~68 pages)
- **Status:** Published as SEC interpretation with full legal weight
- **Safe harbor proposals:** Three-path framework proposed but not yet final — formal rules expected for public comment in coming weeks (>400 pages anticipated)
- **SEC-CFTC MOU:** Signed March 11, 2026, establishing Joint Harmonization Initiative
- **180-day registration window:** Open for companies operating under regulatory ambiguity
- **Named digital commodities:** 16 assets (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, AVAX, DOT, XLM, HBAR, LTC, DOGE, SHIB, XTZ, BCH, APT, ALGO)

## Timeline

- **2017-07-25** — SEC DAO Report establishes tokens can be securities under Howey test
- **2023-06** — SEC sues Coinbase and Binance, peak "regulation by enforcement" era
- **2025-11** — Chairman Atkins previews "token taxonomy" concept in Project Crypto remarks
- **2026-01-28** — SEC statement on tokenized securities
- **2026-03-11** — SEC-CFTC MOU signed ("Joint Harmonization Initiative")
- **2026-03-17** — Token Taxonomy interpretation published (S7-2026-09)

## Key Provisions

### Investment Contract Termination Doctrine
- Asset ≠ investment contract (analytically distinct)
- Investment contracts terminate via fulfillment (promises kept) or failure (promises abandoned)
- Transition Point mechanism allows formal securities → commodity reclassification
- Secondary market transactions do NOT transform non-security assets into securities

### Five-Category Taxonomy
| Category | Securities? | Jurisdiction |
|----------|------------|-------------|
| Digital Commodities | No | CFTC (secondary), SEC (primary fundraising) |
| Digital Collectibles | No | Neither (anti-fraud only) |
| Digital Tools | No | Neither (anti-fraud only) |
| Payment Stablecoins | No | GENIUS Act framework |
| Digital Securities | Yes | SEC |

### Safe Harbor (Proposed)
1. Startup: ~$5M / 4 years
2. Fundraising: ~$75M / 12 months
3. Investment Contract: terminates when managerial efforts complete/cease

## Significance for KB

This framework is the regulatory ground truth against which all futarchy governance token claims must now be evaluated. Key implications:

1. **Futarchy regulatory positioning:** The termination doctrine supports the thesis that futarchy-governed entities can exit securities classification, but the mechanism is issuer cessation (not structural replacement) — a compatible but non-identical pathway
2. **Governance token classification:** META and OMFG are not named as commodities and don't cleanly fit any category — "digital tools" is the closest but unconfirmed
3. **Prediction markets:** Complete silence — neither covered nor excluded, leaving futarchy mechanisms in a regulatory gap
4. **Living Capital:** The three-path safe harbor creates the first formal capital formation framework usable by futarchy-governed vehicles
5. **AI-managed capital:** The framework assumes human issuers throughout — AI autonomy remains terra incognita

## Relationship to KB
- [[futarchy-governed entities are structurally not securities because prediction market participation replaces the concentrated promoter effort that the Howey test requires]] — framework supports via termination doctrine
- [[the DAO Reports rejection of voting as active management is the central legal hurdle for futarchy because prediction market trading must prove fundamentally more meaningful than token voting]] — DAO Report partially obsoleted
- [[Living Capital vehicles likely fail the Howey test for securities classification because the structural separation of capital raise from investment decision eliminates the efforts of others prong]] — new pathways but specific argument untested
- [[AI autonomously managing investment capital is regulatory terra incognita because the SEC framework assumes human-controlled registered entities deploy AI as tools]] — confirmed by framework silence
- [[Ooki DAO proved that DAOs without legal wrappers face general partnership liability making entity structure a prerequisite for any futarchy-governed vehicle]] — unaffected (entity liability is orthogonal)

---

Relevant Entities:
- [[kalshi]] — prediction market regulatory positioning
- [[metadao]] — futarchy governance token classification implications
- [[omnipair]] — OMFG token classification under taxonomy
- [[genius-act]] — stablecoin carve-out referenced in framework

Topics:
- [[maps/internet finance and decision markets]]
- [[maps/living capital]]