Six major blockchain organizations, including Chainlink Labs and Cardano Foundation, called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to officially classify digital commodities as non-securities. On Tuesday, the deadline for public comments on the proposed crypto regulatory rules expired.

In a joint letter dated October 20th, Chainlink Labs, Cardano Foundation, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, and Stellar Development Foundation called on SEC to directly include the classification of digital goods within the proposed "Cryptocurrency Regulatory Framework" (Regulation Crypto Assets framework). These institutions stated that if reliance is solely on explanatory guidelines, market participants will still face legal uncertainties.

These institutions stated that although the current interpretation by SEC recognizes digital goods as a separate category, the proposed rules do not clearly reflect this distinction, which may leave developers and other market participants unsure as to which securities regulatory provisions apply.

This letter also requests further clarification on how the Securities Law applies to secondary market transactions involving digital assets, as well as how pledges and other activities related to decentralized blockchain networks should be handled.

SEC proposed this encryption framework in August and received approximately 140 public comments within 60 days. Industry participants and legal scholars expressed different views on the proposed exemptions for encrypted offerings, as well as the conditional safe harbor arrangements for certain tokens.