Taylor Lindman, the chief counsel of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, is heading to CoinDesk’s Policy & Regulation 2026 event as a keynote speaker. The appearance, scheduled for September 22 in Washington, D.C., puts one of the most consequential regulatory voices in crypto directly in front of the industry he now oversees.
From Chainlink to the commission
Lindman isn’t your typical SEC hire. Before joining the commission in February 2026, he spent five years as Deputy General Counsel at Chainlink Labs, one of the most infrastructure-critical projects in decentralized finance.
He succeeded Michael Selig in the chief counsel role. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, long considered the most crypto-friendly voice on the commission, publicly endorsed his appointment.
The ‘two-bucket’ framework and the CLARITY Act
At Consensus in May 2026, Lindman laid out the SEC’s evolving approach to crypto regulation, including what’s been called a “two-bucket” regulatory framework. The SEC is trying to sort digital assets into two categories, presumably distinguishing tokens that function more like securities from those that don’t.
He also discussed the CLARITY Act during that Consensus appearance. The legislation has become a focal point for the industry’s lobbying efforts, aiming to provide clearer definitions of when a digital asset qualifies as a security versus a commodity.
If the CLARITY Act advances, it would represent the first time Congress has drawn a definitive line between crypto securities and crypto commodities. That distinction alone could reshape how exchanges list tokens, how projects structure their fundraising, and how much of the existing market needs to retroactively register with the SEC.