United States: Token Classification

Digital commodities -- defined as tokens deriving their value from the programmatic operation of a functional crypto system -- are classified as non-securities, with Bitcoin, Ether and Solana specifically named as illustrative examples. Payment stablecoins used as a means of payment or settlement are treated as generally not securities, with their treatment cross-referenced to and dependent on the GENIUS Act's own payment-stablecoin definition; notably, this classification determination is settled and in force even though the GENIUS Act's own operative regime is not yet effective, illustrating that classification status and licensing-regime operability are separate questions that can resolve on different timelines. Tokenized traditional securities -- what the release terms 'digital securities' -- remain fully subject to federal securities law regardless of their crypto-asset wrapper, confirming continuity rather than a carve-out for tokenization as a technical form. Digital collectibles, including NFTs, are generally treated as outside securities law, with fractionalization identified as the specific trigger that can convert a collectible into a security: an NFT sold as a fractional-ownership interest may be deemed a security even where the same asset sold whole would not be.

A further comparative note from this release is itself instructive: the US framework does not adopt an EU-style Asset-Referenced Token / E-Money Token taxonomy, instead classifying stablecoins separately and exclusively under the GENIUS Act's own 'payment stablecoin' definition. This is treated as a non-normative, comparative framing point rather than a binding rule, and no regulatory_stage was assigned to it accordingly.

Outlook

With the token_classification module now green and Confirmed across its core categories, the near-term outlook for this module is one of consolidation rather than further foundational change. The primary open question is not whether the taxonomy will hold, but how it interacts with adjacent modules whose own status is less settled -- most notably how the 'payment stablecoin' non-security classification will be affected once the GENIUS Act's licensing and reserve requirements actually become operative in 2027, and how the fractionalized-NFT securities trigger will be applied in practice as tokenized real-world-asset products proliferate. No new classification rulemaking is currently signaled for the immediate term, making this one of the more stable modules in the current US baseline.