Published: November 26th, 2025
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded that Fuse Crypto Limited's planned rewards token isn't a security, offering one of the clearest signals yet that the agency is happy to leave some consumer-use tokens outside its enforcement scope.
In a no-action letter released Monday, the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance said it would not pursue enforcement if Fuse offers and sells its ENERGY token without registration, as long as the company maintains the structure described in its submission. The decision follows Fuse's November 19 request outlining how the token ties its value to consumer energy participation rather than investment gain.
Though narrowly worded, the watchdog's letter provides insight into the agency's evolving interpretation of digital assets that take inspiration from loyalty programs or and consumer rebates rather than speculative instruments.
Fuse, an energy-technology firm with operations across Europe and the US, argued that its Solana-based token is designed to reduce, rather than encourage, speculative trading. The company said redemption values are capped, linked to average market prices, and tied to household energy activity, not corporate performance.
The SEC agreed, noting that the token's economic value “will not depend on the overall success” of Fuse or its network. That distinction is central to the Howey test, the legal framework for determining whether an asset constitutes an investment contract.
The agency emphasized that its view applies only if Fuse adheres to the specific safeguards and use-case limits described in its filing. Even so, the letter drew quick attention from digital-asset attorneys who have pressed the SEC to distinguish consumer or utility tokens from investment products. vLawyers at Washington law firm Consensys wrote in a blog that the factors cited by the regulator left little ambiguity, saying that the case was “straightforward.”
Fuse said in a statement that the decision followed “months of productive engagement” with the agency and that it sees the ruling as a meaningful step for U.S. regulatory clarity.
Fuse's token is part of a broader effort to change how energy is generated and consumed. The startup company operates solar and wind assets in the UK and offers distributed-energy programs to customers who install renewable technologies at home.
Using the Fuse Energy mobile app, consumers can monitor usage in near real time and participate in “demand response” events, peak periods when utilities ask customers to shift their consumption to ease grid strain. Fuse says the app is designed to simplify the process and reduce energy waste by encouraging users to adjust consumption when renewable production is highest.
The ENERGY token serves as an incentive layer. Households that install solar panels, home batteries or EV chargers, or that participate in energy-shifting programs, receive tokens that can be redeemed for discounts on power supplied by Fuse.
“The idea is that local generation matched with local consumption reduces losses and lowers costs,” CEO Andrew Chang said in an earlier interview with The Times. “Customers are willing to help, but incentives make participation far more effective.”
The company positions the token as a type of rebate for clean-energy participation. That framing, along with the built-in limits on redemption value, proved central to the SEC's assessment.
Fuse's token program also places it squarely in the growing category known as decentralized physical infrastructure networks, or DePIN. These projects apply blockchain technology to real-world infrastructure, ranging from renewable energy to mapping, computing and wireless networks. They often use tokens to motivate participation.
The model has gained traction among venture capital firms, and Fuse is one of its better-funded entrants. The company recently completed a $12 million strategic round led by Multicoin Capital, bringing total funding to $90 million. Investors include Balderton, Accel, Lakestar, LowerCarbon and Ribbit.
Still, regulatory uncertainty remains a significant limitation. Fuse says its token will not be available in the U.S. for now, even though the company operates American energy programs.
DoubleZero, founded last year and backed by former Solana Foundation strategist Austin Federa, had asked the regulator to evaluate whether its programmatic transfers to network participants constituted securities transactions. The SEC found that the 2Z token did not resemble an investment contract based on the facts presented.
The brief two-paragraph letter was notable because it was the first such decision in several years. Under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the agency had repeatedly suggested that most tokens, aside from Bitcoin, likely fell within its jurisdiction. The DoubleZero ruling appeared to soften that view, at least for narrowly structured incentive tokens.
Jack Graves, a professor at Syracuse University College of Law, told Bloomberg that the SEC's recent moves indicate a willingness to draw distinctions between speculative assets and functional ones. “The agency seems to be signalling that not every token automatically qualifies as a security,” he said.
DoubleZero expects its mainnet-beta network to launch shortly, and participants will earn 2Z tokens based on performance and reliability. The project says it also plans to introduce staking features.
For the crypto industry, the SEC's letters do not create broad exemptions or new categories of non-security assets. Each determination is highly fact-specific, conditioned on the project adhering to its described structure, and subject to change if market behaviour evolves.
Still, the rulings indicate growing regulatory differentiation. Projects that tie token value to consumer behavior or resource contribution appear to face a clearer path to compliance. That includes many of the emerging DePIN networks, which rely on tokens to coordinate distributed resources.
For DePIN companies like Fuse, the agency's decision offers something the crypto industry rarely receives: a precedent that can be used, however cautiously, in future regulatory discussions.
