New SEC Crypto FAQ Puts Token Buybacks Under Fresh Scrutiny

The latest SEC crypto FAQ update adds answers on governance, control and decentralization. Ordinary tokenholder voting does not by itself turn voters into a controlling group. Unilateral power over validators, code or transactions points to a central party. The FAQ reflects staff views only and changes no law. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance on November 2 added three new answers to its crypto asset FAQ, spelling out when token voting or a foundation’s administrative powers turn a blockchain network into one run by a “central party.” The distinction carries practical weight because, under the agency’s March 2026 framework, a network with a central party struggles to qualify its native token as a digital commodity, and since late September the staff’s favorable reading of token buybacks also…