Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining does not trigger federal securities laws, according to a Thursday staff statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which told mining operators they do not need to register their transactions with the regulator.

The statement, published by the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, declared that both solo proof-of-work crypto mining and pooled proof-of-work crypto mining do not meet the definition of a securities transaction under the Howey Test — the legal framework used to determine whether a transaction represents an investment contract — because they are “not undertaken with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.”

The statement puts to rest any lingering fears that the SEC’s enforcement division could turn its gaze on proof-of-work crypto miners. Though the agency, under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler, begrudgingly admitted that bitcoin was a commodity rather than a security, the agency’s enforcement suit against Utah-based Green United, an alleged ponzi scheme accused of defrauding customers in a cloud mining scheme, prompted concerns among some in the industry that the agency would eventually crack down on legitimate crypto miners.

The SEC said that Thursday’s statement is “part of an effort to provide greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto assets” — something the industry has been pushing for for years. Under the new leadership of Acting Chair Mark Uyeda, who established a Crypto Task Force spearheaded by crypto-friendly Commissioner Hester Peirce, the agency has rapidly begun reversing course on its approach to crypto, dropping lawsuits and investigations started under Gensler and repealing the controversial Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.

Thursday’s staff statement comes shortly after the SEC put out a similar staff statement in February declaring most memecoins to be outside the regulator’s jurisdiction.

Read more: As Congress Talks Up Its Earth-Shaking Bill, Regulators Are Already at Work

Under its new leadership, the SEC has signaled a much greater willingness to work with the crypto industry to craft better, clearer regulations moving forward. On Friday, the agency will host a roundtable discussion on what makes a cryptocurrency a security – the first in a series of roundtable discussions between the regulator and industry participants.

Stock and other traditional financial asset traders across the world are wanting to be able to buy and sell assets around the clock, resulting in two of the biggest stock markets in the U.S., Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) making moves to offer round-the-clock trading soon.

“We definitely see that this is where the markets are moving,” said Giang Bui, Nasdaq’s head of U.S. Equities & Exchange-Traded Products, speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Thursday. “There’s a lot of demand globally for U.S. stocks and people want to trade within the hours that they’re typically awake, and I think a lot of it is because people are used to trading crypto 24/7.”

Both Nasdaq and the NYSE are in the process of receiving approval to open their venues 24 hours a day, for five or even seven days a week. Nasdaq recently announced that it had begun engaging with regulators about the change while the NYSE has already received the green light.

Round-the-clock trading can have several advantages for markets, including increased volume and market liquidity as traders aren’t tied to specific time zones. Currently, the U.S. stock market opens for trading at 9:30 a.m. ET and closes at 4 p.m. ET.

“We’re hearing it across the board from global broker dealers, clients who they’re servicing, even within the U.S., there’s a number of U.S. brokers that already are offering overnight trading because their customers are used to trading crypto in those hours,” Bui added.

Nasdaq lists a number of crypto-related products, including the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the spot ETF issued by BlackRock, which saw the most successful ETF debut in the history of U.S. ETF launches. Earlier today, the exchange listed two Solana (SOL) futures ETFs issued by Volatility Shares.

Bitcoin miners are facing renewed financial pressure as declining transaction fees and a hashprice drop push operational costs higher, according to TheMinerMag’s February 2025 report​.

Bitcoin’s hashrate climbed 3.8% in February to 810 EH/s, showing a slowdown in mining competition growth. However, the hashprice (the revenue that miners earn per unit of computing power) slipped to $45/PH/s, wiping out gains from the U.S. election-driven price surge. At this level, inefficient miners are feeling the strain.

Transaction fees made up just 1.3% of total block rewards in February, marking their lowest share since the last bear market bottom in 2022. March is trending even lower, at 1.12% so far.

These factors — alongside increased competition from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers — are putting extra pressure on mining operations who rely on hosting agreements and asset-light strategies.

MARA remains the industry leader with 44 EH/s after a 6% hashrate increase, while CleanSpark grew 12% to 39 EH/s. Meanwhile, total bitcoin holdings among miners surpassed 100,000 BTC for the first time, despite some firms like HIVE Digital and Cipher Mining selling their production to fund expansion.

Mining stocks took a hit, with the combined market capitalization of 15 major firms dropping from $36 billion in January to $22 billion in March. Cipher, Canaan, Hut 8, HIVE, and Bitdeer all saw losses exceeding 40%.

With network growth slowing and energy costs rising, miners may need a Bitcoin price rally to avoid further financial strain.

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