SEC Chair Paul Atkins Reveals Which Crypto Tokens He Thinks Are Securities
The post SEC Chair Paul Atkins Reveals Which Crypto Tokens He Thinks Are Securities appeared com. In brief SEC Chair Paul Atkins said most crypto tokens, including network tokens and meme coins, shouldn’t be treated as securities. Only tokens tied to explicit and unambiguous managerial promises should qualify as securities, he clarified. He also announced plans to let securities and non-securities trade together on “super app” platforms not regulated by the SEC. SEC chair Paul Atkins made perhaps his most explicit comments yet on the security status of crypto tokens Wednesday, in a lengthy speech that clarified the few circumstances in which the Wall Street regulator plans to oversee the booming crypto industry under the second Trump administration. Consistent with prior statements made by Atkins and his fellow Republican commissioner Hester Peirce, the SEC chair emphasized today that certain categories of crypto tokens should not be considered securities in and of themselves. Those include “network tokens” linked to a functional, decentralized blockchain network-a category that likely covers most popular crypto tokens, ranging from Ethereum to Solana to XRP. Another exempt token category listed by Atkins is one he dubbed “digital collectibles”-cryptocurrencies that either represent rights to media, or, crucially, reference “internet memes, characters, current events, or trends.” By that definition, wildly popular and volatile meme coins appear to also be carved out from the SEC’s purview. Third, Atkins said that “digital tools”-crypto assets providing a practical function like a ticket, membership, or badge-are also not securities in his opinion. While those categorizations may not necessarily come as a surprise, given the SEC’s aggressively pro-crypto moves in recent months, Atkins’ comments Wednesday shed more light on the thinking behind those views. Namely, they underscored the SEC chair’s belief that only in situations where a third-party’s managerial efforts are absolutely essential to promises of an asset’s future value, should that asset be considered a security under the.