Cardano Foundation urges EU and US regulators to clarify crypto classifications

The Cardano Foundation is advocating for regulatory clarity regarding digital assets in both the European Union and the United States. In a submission to the European Commission, the Foundation opposed the creation of new, separate regulatory frameworks for decentralized finance (DeFi) and staking under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. Instead, it proposed refining existing rules to better distinguish between direct participation in decentralized blockchain networks and traditional financial services provided by intermediaries.

The Foundation argued that regulation should be based on the actual functions and risks of an activity rather than the underlying technology. It specifically noted that protocol-level participation, such as delegating assets for network consensus without relinquishing control, should not be treated the same as centralized custodial staking services.

Simultaneously, the Cardano Foundation joined five other blockchain organizations—Chainlink Labs, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, and the Stellar Development Foundation—in a joint letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The group is urging the SEC to explicitly classify certain digital assets, including ADA, as digital commodities within formal regulatory text, rather than merely referencing them as such in explanatory materials. The organizations seek to ensure that the legal status of these assets is binding and provides certainty for compliance and market operations.