SEC Declares Most Crypto Assets Not Securities Under New Framework
SEC Chair Paul Atkins released interpretive guidance Tuesday providing a coherent token taxonomy for digital commodities, collectibles, tools, stablecoins, and securities. The guidance marks a sharp reversal from the agency's prior enforcement-heavy approach.
Key Takeaway
SEC's new guidance eliminates securities classification for most crypto assets, ending years of enforcement uncertainty.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins released interpretive guidance Tuesday declaring that most crypto assets are not securities, marking a sharp reversal from the agency's enforcement-heavy approach under prior leadership.
The guidance provides a coherent token taxonomy covering digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities. It addresses how non-security crypto assets may or may not constitute investment contracts, plus clarifies federal securities law treatment of airdrops, protocol mining, protocol staking, and wrapped non-security crypto assets. Atkins said in prepared remarks at the DC Blockchain Summit that only tokenized traditional securities remain subject to securities laws under the interpretation.
The announcement came the same day SEC Enforcement Division Director Margaret Ryan resigned and was replaced by Principal Deputy Director Sam Waldon as acting enforcement director. Atkins said the former administration refused to recognize that most crypto assets are not themselves securities, and noted that investment contracts can come to an end. This is what regulatory agencies are supposed to do, Atkins told the summit audience: draw clear lines in clear terms.
Former SEC Official John Reed Stark, who founded the agency's Office of Internet Enforcement, attacked the shift Monday. Not a single person on this planet believed the commission's claims about enforcement prioritization, Stark wrote. The SEC has abandoned its identity, he said, transforming from the cop on Wall Street's beat into a regulatory body that functions less like a law enforcement agency and more like a concierge service for the largest financial players in the country.
The SEC currently operates with three of its five intended commissioners: Chair Paul Atkins and Republican commissioners Mark Uyeda and Hester Peirce. US Senate lawmakers are negotiating terms on a digital asset market structure bill, but President Trump had announced no nominations for the remaining SEC or CFTC commissioner positions as of March 18, 2026.
This article was written based on reporting from Cointelegraph.
