- Ripple and six blockchain organizations urged the SEC to adopt durable rules for crypto assets.
- Ripple says it spent over $150 million just to learn what the law required of it.
- Chainlink urged the SEC to codify its “digital commodity” classification in the proposed crypto rule.
Ripple and a group of six blockchain organizations filed separate letters with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, the last day of the public comment period on the agency’s proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, with each asking for the rules to be adopted in a more durable form.
Ripple Backs the Proposal
Ripple said it supports the proposal and that the SEC has clear authority to adopt it. Stuart Alderoty, the company’s legal chief, wrote on X that years of “case by case, coin by coin” enforcement had pushed innovation offshore. He said Ripple spent more than $150 million to learn what the law required, and that no company should have to do the same.
The letter makes three arguments:
- Authority: Section 28 of the Securities Act and Section 36 of the Exchange Act allow the SEC to exempt entire “classes” of persons, securities, or transactions, so the agency does not need to grant relief one case at a time.
- Legal footing: The proposal follows the Howey test. The investment contract is the security, not the token. An obligation can end when an issuer completes or permanently stops the managerial efforts it promised, and what counts is the issuer’s own promises, not a market sense of “decentralization.”
- Courts: Ripple cited the Third Circuit’s 2025 Coinbase decision, which found the SEC’s refusal to write crypto rules arbitrary and capricious. It also noted that many rulings in crypto cases were made at the pleading stage and settled no facts.
Under the proposal, an issuer could use a safe harbor in proposed Rule 400 once its promised efforts are finished, and would file a Form TR on EDGAR with a certification and supporting analysis.
Ripple said the safe harbor is optional and forward-looking, and that the SEC could still challenge an issuer’s claim. Ripple also said it will offer targeted suggestions for refinement, though the section I was given ends before they appear.
Layer-1 Developers Want the “Digital Commodity” Label in Rule
A separate letter to SEC Secretary Vanessa Countryman came from Stellar Development Foundation, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Cardano Foundation and Chainlink Labs. The group asked the SEC to write its “digital commodity” classification into the operative text of the proposed rule. At present, that classification sits in the agency’s March 17, 2026 interpretation.
Chainlink’s Taylor Barr said builders need lasting certainty and that codifying the framework would help keep the U.S. a base for digital asset development.
The proposal would also create new fundraising exemptions for crypto issuers raising money in the U.S.
Related: Hyperliquid Policy Center Pushes SEC for Clearer Crypto Token Rules
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