Federal financial regulators Tuesday officially announced a new treatment of crypto assets , aiming to provide a clearer understanding of the rules for digital assets.
Why it matters: The more industry-friendly rules from the Trump-era Securities and Exchange Commission aren't a surprise, but they're a win for the crypto industry as key market structure legislation remains stalled in the Senate.
Driving the news: The SEC issued a new official interpretation for how existing securities laws apply to crypto assets, and for how it will handle jurisdictional crossover with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Namely, the SEC's interpretation is that most crypto assets are not themselves securities .
And that's a major departure from the Biden-era SEC, which spent years peppering the industry with enforcement actions , alleging violations to existing laws that crypto companies argued didn't apply to them.
What they're saying: "This is what regulatory agencies are supposed to do: Draw clear lines in clear terms," SEC chair Paul Atkins said in a statement.
"This effort serves as an important bridge for entrepreneurs and investors as Congress works to advance bipartisan market structure legislation."
State of play: That effort to create new laws for a crypto regulatory framework remains stalled in the Senate Banking Committee.
The so-called market structure bill, known as the Clarity Act, is currently held up by a battle between the banking industry and the crypto industry over how to treat stablecoin rewards.
The latest: Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), head of the crypto subcommittee within Senate Banking, said Wednesday that she expects the bill to advance out of the committee by late April.
Zoom out: The CFTC, which has long expected to take on a larger role in regulating crypto after a market structure law, joined the SEC's new interpretation Tuesday.
"Today's joint agency action reflects a shared commitment to developing workable, harmonized regulations for the new frontier of finance," CFTC chair Michael Selig said.