The regulatory perimeter finally arrives

On Tuesday, SEC chairman Paul Atkins issued a ruling, drawing the clearest lines the SEC has drawn in over a decade in relation to blockchain. Five categories of digital assets are now formally classified: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, payment stablecoins, and lastly digital securities (like tokenized stocks), the only category that will remain a security. In short, for the first time, both the SEC and CFTC have spoken with one voice on how the law applies to the vast majority of digital assets in circulation today.

The implications are immediate and significant. For institutional allocators, the single most persistent objection to blockchain exposure, the absence of clear rules, has now been addressed by both agencies simultaneously. Exchanges, custodians, and funds can structure their operations around defined categories rather than enforcement risk. For builders, the U.S. is back as a viable home: the era of routing projects offshore to avoid SEC scrutiny is over. And for the asset class broadly, this is the moment the market has been waiting for, not a speech, not a no-action letter, but a binding joint interpretation from both the SEC and the CFTC.

While not completely conclusive on protocols that carry explicit value accrual mechanisms such as token buybacks, Atkins is offering an investment contract safe harbor: once a founding team has completed the essential managerial efforts it explicitly promised, the underlying token exits SEC jurisdiction. It is the first time a defined exit from regulatory risk has existed at all, which is massive progress.

With the GENIUS Act already signed into law and this week's joint ruling in effect, the direction is set. For the first time in over a decade the rules are being written, not litigated, paving the way for institutional capital to follow.

Also this week

• Kalshi gets $1 billion in new $22 billion funding round
• SEC and CFTC unveil new crypto guidance declaring most digital assets are not securities
• Mastercard to acquire stablecoin tech firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion
• S&P Dow Jones Indices licenses brand for first official S&P 500 perp to trade on Hyperliquid
• Nasdaq wins SEC approval to trade tokenized securities in pilot program
• Europe's largest asset manager Amundi debuts $100 million tokenized fund on Ethereum, Stellar

Relevant financial updates

• Brahma*, a crypto payments startup focused on automated DeFi operations, has been acquired by Polymarket* for an undisclosed amount
• BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure and payments firm, has been acquired by Mastercard for $1.8bln
• Kalshi*, a prediction markets platform, has raised $1bln in a funding round led by Coatue Management at a $22bln valuation
• Bluesky, a decentralized social media network, has raised $100mln in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto with investments from True Ventures and Alumni Ventures Group
• Ironlight, a tokenized securities infrastructure provider, has raised $21mln in a Series A funding round from Laidlaw Private Equity and Sei Development Foundation
• TransFi, an emerging markets payments platform built on stablecoin rails, has raised $19mln in a Series A funding round from Turing Financial Group
• Dtcpay, a stablecoin payment gateway, has raised $10mln in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures
• Silhouette*, a decentralized exchange, has raised $8mln in a Seed funding round led by Polychain Capital and 6th Man Ventures with investments from RockawayX and Hivemind Capital Partners

*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 20/03

Interesting things to read

• Why blockchains rails are far more efficient for trading traditional assets, by Multicoin Capital
• Can Stripe’s Blockchain Own the Payment Rails? on the Bell Curve podcast

Upcoming events

• Digital Asset Summit 2026 New York, March 27
• EthCC Cannes, March 30 - April 2
• Legends4Legends Amsterdam, 1 October