Nasdaq Tells SEC Precise Crypto Labeling Will Be Everything in Future Regulation

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By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Parikshit Mishra Apr 25, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Nasdaq sent a letter advising the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission what U.S. crypto regulations should looke like. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk) What to know : Nasdaq sent a lengthy letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission's crypto task force outlining what the ideal U.S. crypto rules would look like. Commissioner Hester Peirce, who leads the task force, had invited input on what the agency should be doing to police the sector. Nasdaq, the operator of one of the premier U.S. stock exchanges and a crypto index, is advising the U.S. regulators to carefully focus on defining digital assets in four buckets that will clearly determine which agency acts as referee, according to a 23-page letter sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission's crypto task force. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the State of Crypto Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . "While a stock by any other word would still be a stock, the existing market ecosystem can readily absorb digital assets by establishing the proper taxonomy and calibrating certain rules to reflect what is truly new and novel about digital assets," the letter argued in response to the invitation issued by the task force's chief , Commissioner Hester Peirce, to weigh in on future regulations. The four future categories of digital assets, in Nasdaq's view, should be: financial securities (tokens tied to assets that are securities under existing definitions, like stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds (ETFS), which Nasdaq said should be treated just the same as their underlying assets); digital asset investment contracts (tokenized contracts that check all the securities boxes under a "clarified version" of the Supreme Court's so-called Howey test); digital asset commodities (meeting the U.S. definition of commodities) other digital assets (stuff that doesn't fall anywhere else and shouldn't have rules for securities or commodities imposed on it) The securities categories belong in the hands of the SEC, which will be working with its cousin agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, that will handle the commodities. Those agencies — presumably directed at some point by a new crypto law hatched by Congress — will figure out the precise border between their jurisdictions. The letter, signed by John Zecca , the company's chief regulator executive, argued that "digital assets that constitute financial securities must trade as they do today." Nasdaq also suggested that the two agencies should formulate a kind of crossover trading designation for platforms that can handle digital asset investment contracts, commodities and other types of assets under one roof. In the letter, Nasdaq underlined its digital-asset credibility, saying its "trading and clearing services, market and trading surveillance, and central securities depository technology support digital assets platforms on six continents." It contended that the regulators should consider imposing safety measures or further constraints on firms that want to handle investors' activity from top to bottom, which is the common approach of existing crypto firms. Read More: SEC 'Earnest' About Finding Workable Crypto Policy, Commissioners Say at Roundtable Nasdaq Regulation U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Hester Peirce Jesse Hamilton Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor on the Global Policy and Regulation team, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022, he worked for more than a decade covering Wall Street regulation at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, writing about the early whisperings among federal agencies trying to decide what to do about crypto. He’s won several national honors in his reporting career, including from his time as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a police reporter for newspapers. Jesse is a graduate of Western Washington University, where he studied journalism and history. He has no crypto holdings. X icon About About Us Masthead Careers CoinDesk News Crypto API Documentation Contact Contact Us Accessibility Advertise Sitemap System Status DISCLOSURE & POLICES CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one. Ethics Privacy Terms of Use Cookie Settings Do Not Sell My Info © 2025 CoinDesk, Inc. X icon