# SEC staff say some staking receipt tokens and token buybacks fall outside securities law

The answers carry no legal force and the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved them, leaving the industry with staff interpretation instead of statute.

- Published: 2026-09-26T05:50:55.881Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/2026-09-26/sec-staff-say-some-staking-receipt-tokens-and-token-buybacks
- Publisher: Polylog (Crypto desk)
- Section: crypto
- Sources: [crypto.news](https://crypto.news/sec-clarifies-staking-tokens-avoid-securities-rules/), [Polylog editors](https://polylog.news), [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/25/blockchain-association-sees-leadership-shift-shortly-after-crypto-clarity-act-fizzles)

The Division of Corporation Finance at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a set of frequently asked questions on September 25 covering how federal securities laws apply to several crypto structures. Staff said [certain staking receipt tokens can function as receipts for an underlying digital commodity rather than as securities](https://crypto.news/sec-clarifies-staking-tokens-avoid-securities-rules/), and that the same analysis extends to wrapped assets only where the depositor genuinely keeps ownership and control of the deposited asset. The name on the token does not decide the question.

On buybacks, staff said announcing a repurchase of a non-security token on a working network does not by itself amount to a promise of the essential managerial efforts that the Howey test looks for, though a buyback marketed as a way to generate returns can be analyzed differently. Staff also said developers can keep securing, maintaining and improving a functional network, fund development and grow network effects without those activities recreating an investment contract. The [SEC confirmed the publication](https://t.me/cointelegraph/72326), which was also [flagged across crypto channels as new guidance on securities law](https://t.me/WatcherGuru/15247).

The limits are written into the document. The FAQs bind nobody, create no new obligations, and represent staff views that the Commission itself has not voted on. They arrive while legislation that would settle the same questions has stalled. The Blockchain Association [installed its original chief executive, Kristin Smith, again after the Clarity Act effort failed to advance](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/25/blockchain-association-sees-leadership-shift-shortly-after-crypto-clarity-act-fizzles), following Summer Mersinger's departure. The change reflects a long congressional standoff over crypto market-structure legislation.

## What this means

Staff interpretations lower legal risk for liquid staking issuers, wrapped-asset custodians and treasury teams running token repurchases, and they do it through prosecutorial restraint rather than law, which means the relief is only as durable as the current Commission's composition. The precedent is the 2019 framework and the Hinman speech, both of which the industry treated as safe harbor for years until enforcement actions and litigation showed how little weight a staff document carries in court. The likelier outcome over the coming months is a visible expansion of liquid staking products and on-chain buyback programs aimed at United States users, alongside continued dependence on agency discretion because the Senate has not produced a market-structure statute. What would change that is either a Commission-level rulemaking that codifies these positions or a private lawsuit that tests a staking receipt token's status, either of which would replace interpretation with something enforceable.

## What to watch

- Whether the Commission itself moves any of these FAQ positions into a proposed rule, which is the difference between guidance and law.
- Whether large liquid staking and wrapped-asset issuers restructure their terms to match the ownership-and-control test the staff described.
- Whether Senate negotiators revive market-structure legislation, since agency discretion is the only framework in place until they do.
- Whether state regulators or private plaintiffs challenge a staking receipt token directly, which would test the guidance outside the agency.