The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has updated its guidance on crypto assets, providing further detail on when token activities may fall outside federal securities laws as the agency continues to clarify its approach to digital assets.

The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, the staff that reviews public companies' disclosures and registration statements, issued the updated crypto FAQs on September 25, 2026, addressing three areas: token buybacks, functional crypto networks, and staking receipt tokens.

Token Buybacks and Functional Networks

Token buybacks, in which an issuer repurchases its own tokens from the market, are a widely used capital management practice across the crypto industry, and their securities-law status has often turned on how a project's network and disclosures are structured.

For functional crypto systems, the SEC said an issuer's announcement of a buyback program would not constitute a promise to perform essential managerial efforts. That assessment could change, however, where a network is not yet functional and the buyback is presented as creating a return or yield for token holders.

The agency also said that once a crypto system is functional, activities to secure, maintain, or improve the network, or to support network effects, would not necessarily constitute the essential managerial efforts required for an investment contract under the Howey test, the Supreme Court precedent that defines an investment contract as an investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits derived from the efforts of others.

Staking Receipt Tokens

The updated FAQs also clarify the treatment of staking receipt tokens. Staking refers to the practice of committing tokens to help validate transactions and secure proof-of-stake networks, with receipt tokens representing ownership of the assets a participant has staked. According to the SEC, a receipt representing ownership of an underlying non-security crypto asset would not itself constitute a security under the circumstances outlined by the regulator.

Staff Views, Not Formal Rules

The SEC emphasized that the FAQs represent staff views rather than formal Commission rules. They have no legal force or effect, do not amend existing law, and do not create new obligations.

The update gives crypto issuers and market participants additional guidance on how the SEC intends to apply its March 2026 interpretation of federal securities laws to specific crypto activities, while leaving Congress to establish any broader statutory market structure framework.

Regulatory Context

The update comes about a week after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) similarly sent crypto market rules to the White House after the Senate vote failed to pass the CLARITY Act, the market structure bill aimed at dividing digital asset oversight between the two agencies.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said after the Senate vote that the agency was "locked in and ready to ship" crypto market rules using its existing statutory authority. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins similarly said the securities regulator would proceed "with or without legislation."

With both chairmen signaling action under existing authority and the CLARITY Act failing to clear the Senate, how U.S. digital asset rules take shape across the SEC, the CFTC, and Congress remains an open question for issuers and market participants.