SEC staff said a staking receipt for a digital commodity can qualify as a digital tool when it only evidences ownership and leaves the issuer unable to use the deposited asset. The September 25 FAQs reaffirm that receipt tokens cannot alter rights attached to staked Ether, add benefits, determine rewards or expose deposits to issuer creditor claims. The position contrasts with the SEC's 2023 settlement with Kraken over its U.S. staking service and its since-dismissed case against Coinbase's staking program. Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw has cautioned that assumptions underpinning the agency's liquid-staking analysis may not reflect real-world arrangements. The FAQs also say buybacks by functional networks generally do not create investment contracts by themselves, although buybacks promoted as a source of returns for unfinished networks can raise securities-law concerns. Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams welcomed the clarification, while a16z General Counsel Miles Jennings warned that it could allow startups to tokenize revenue streams and evade securities rules. Commissioner Hester Peirce said the FAQ does not apply where a central party exists, but Jennings and lawyers Scott Johnsson and Gabriel Shapiro disputed that reading. Token buybacks reached $638 million in 2026, led by Hyperliquid. The guidance is nonbinding and can be withdrawn, a point made more significant after the Clarity Act failed in the Senate this month. Separately, CFTC staff guidance permits regulated firms to use tokenized forms of investments already allowed for customer funds and blockchain-based recordkeeping when existing legal rights and safeguards remain intact; it does not authorize direct customer-fund investments in Bitcoin or Ether.