How ten days in Washington changed the regulatory landscape for XRP and digital assets

Digital assets regulation in the United States reached a turning point in March 2026. The SEC and CFTC issued joint digital assets guidance classifying XRP and certain blockchain-based assets as digital commodities. Three days later, a bipartisan Senate deal advanced the CLARITY Act past a key hurdle, adding legislative momentum to the regulatory shift.

SEC and CFTC guidance reframes key tokens as commodities

On March 17, the SEC and CFTC issued their first-ever joint digital assets guidance. It classified XRP and select assets as digital commodities under existing federal law. That designation placed those assets outside the securities regulatory framework entirely, marking the federal government’s first formal acknowledgment of a separate category for specific blockchain-based assets.

Three days later, Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks reached a bipartisan deal on stablecoin yield. The compromise cleared the obstacle blocking the CLARITY Act in the Senate.

With a Banking Committee markup now targeted for late April 2026, the two developments together provided both regulatory definition and legislative momentum for the sector.

Asheesh Birla, CEO of Evernorth, said markets transform only when technology, regulation, and capital align at the same time, adding that Washington’s actions in the prior ten days reflected a shift the industry had waited a decade for.

Regulatory clarity as a catalyst: parallels cited

Birla drew a comparison to the digitization of U.S. equity markets in the 1990s. He noted that electronic trading represented under 5% of NYSE volume early in that decade, but by 2009 nearly all equity trading had shifted to electronic platforms.

He pointed to Regulation NMS, adopted by the SEC in 2005, as a key regulatory catalyst. Once institutional capital committed, legacy systems were displaced quickly.

A similar pattern was cited for global FX markets after CLS launched in September 2002, with daily FX trading rising from $1.2 trillion in 2001 to $7.5 trillion by 2022.

Capital and activity build on XRPL

Capital flowing into XRP has accelerated compared with the prior eighteen months. Spot XRP ETFs in the United States attracted more than $1 billion in net inflows after launching last year.

On the XRP Ledger (XRPL), daily transaction counts recently reached a record 4 million. A Coinbase and EY survey found institutions plan to raise XRP allocations from 18% to 25% in 2026.

Stablecoins also remain a key part of the on-chain ecosystem, with approximately $300 billion in circulating supply across blockchain networks. Tokenized real-world assets on XRPL grew from $24.7 million in early 2025 to over $2 billion by March 2026.

On-chain settlement and market infrastructure

The article says U.S. Treasuries and credit instruments are among the assets now settled on public blockchains, with capital moving through regulated, on-chain instruments rather than speculative positions.

It also cites XRPL market infrastructure including roughly 27,000 automated market maker pools, and that XRP pairs account for 92% of all DEX trade routing on the network. On-ledger lending, stablecoin issuance, and tokenized asset transfers are described as operational, with the financial stack on XRPL expanding in scope.

Company positioning: Evernorth and XRP deployment

Evernorth holds XRP and plans to deploy it into XRPL’s growing financial infrastructure. After its business combination with Armada Acquisition Corp. II, the company expects to list on Nasdaq.

The article describes Evernorth’s approach as governed, active treasury management for institutional investors, rather than passive price exposure, positioning it as a structured entry point into on-chain finance.