Six blockchain organizations have asked the SEC to turn its digital commodity framework into binding regulation. Stellar Development Foundation, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Cardano Foundation and Chainlink Labs submitted a joint comment letter, according to Odaily. Chainlink’s Taylor Barr announced the effort on X. He argued that developers need long-term, stable regulatory certainty, PANews reported. That report also said Jackson Mueller leads the initiative.
The timing matters. The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets in August 2026, and Baker Botts lists October 20 as the comment deadline. As a result, the coalition filed its request while the rulemaking record was still open. Notably, the group asks for a specific change rather than a general endorsement. They want the SEC to state the definition of “Digital Commodity,” and its non-security status, in the operative text of the rule.
🌩️ BREAKING: New partnership announced between Chainlink, Hedera, Stellar, Aptos, Avalanche and Cardano urging the SEC to codify digital commodity status: $LINK $HBAR $XLM $APT $AVAX $ADA https://t.co/3gUhkQqRrG
— King Solomon (Ryan Solomon) (@IOV_OWL) October 21, 2026
Why the Preamble Is the Problem
According to Odaily, the SEC’s definition currently appears only in the proposal’s preamble. A preamble explains the agency’s reasoning, but it does not carry the force of the rule text. Courts and future commissioners can treat it as commentary. Consequently, builders who rely on that definition rest their plans on language the SEC could revise more easily.
The March 2026 interpretation shows the same weakness. WilmerHale notes that it is a Commission interpretation, not a binding rule. A future SEC leadership team could rescind it without a new rulemaking. In contrast, a definition inside a final rule would require a full notice-and-comment process to change. That higher bar is exactly the durability the six organizations want.
What the March Interpretation Established
On March 17, 2026, the SEC and CFTC released a joint interpretive document applying the Howey test to crypto assets. It sorts assets into five groups: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. DLA Piper summarizes the core test. A digital commodity derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system and from supply and demand, not from the managerial efforts of others.
The release also names examples. WilmerHale reports that a footnote lists 16 assets tied to CFTC-regulated futures, including APT, AVAX, ADA, LINK, HBAR and XLM. Therefore, the native tokens of all six signatories already appear in the SEC’s own guidance. Importantly, the release adds a limit. A non-security asset can still be sold under an investment contract, and that sale remains a securities transaction.
What Regulation Crypto Assets Would Add
The August proposal builds on the March interpretation with a formal offering regime. Baker Botts describes a conditional safe harbor that would end the investment contract label once an issuer meets set conditions. It also describes two registration exemptions. A startup exemption covers up to $5 million over four years, and a fundraising exemption covers up to $75 million in each 12-month period. Additionally, the proposal would preempt state registration requirements for certain offerings and secondary-market transactions.
Without a codified definition, however, these pieces leave a gap. The safe harbor and exemptions govern how issuers raise money and when obligations end. They do not, on the coalition’s reading, anchor which assets count as digital commodities in the first place. By requesting rule text, the six organizations ask the SEC to close that gap in the same document.
Congress Remains Stalled
The request also reflects a wider legislative problem. The CLARITY Act would set a statutory split between SEC and CFTC authority. However, The Asian Banker reports that the Senate blocked the bill, which delays market structure legislation. Meanwhile, the CFTC opened its own track on October 5 with an advance notice on retail crypto transactions, per Baker Botts. That notice asks questions and does not yet propose binding rules.
Agency rulemaking therefore carries more weight right now. If Congress cannot act soon, SEC rule text may offer the firmest protection available. The coalition appears to understand that dynamic. Its letter treats codification as the practical path to certainty, not a substitute for legislation.
What to Watch Next
The SEC now has to weigh this letter alongside the rest of the comment record. The agency has not said whether it will move the definition into the rule text. Furthermore, final rules typically take months after comments close. Readers should watch for a revised proposal or a final rule that includes the definition.
For networks in the group, the stakes are concrete. Their tokens already appear on the SEC’s list, so the open question is permanence. A definition in binding text would let developers, exchanges and institutions plan around it with more confidence. Until then, the framework depends on guidance that a future SEC could change.
