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Sec Chair Atkins Says Few Crypto Tokens Are Treated As Securities
GameFi Guides

SEC Chair Atkins Says Few Crypto Tokens Are Treated as Securities

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On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins said that a very small percentage of crypto tokens are treated as securities. Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Atkins emphasized that the SEC is taking a fresh approach to digital assets, saying most tokens are not necessarily securities, financial instruments regulated under U.S. law.

“From the SEC’s perspective, we will plow forward on this idea that just the token itself is not necessarily a security,” Atkins said. “Very few, in my mind, tokens that are securities, but it depends on the package around it and how it’s being sold.”

Atkins’ comments mark a major shift from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who labeled the “vast majority” of crypto assets as securities under the Howey test, a legal standard used to determine if an investment qualifies as a security. 

Gensler resigned on January 20, 2025, paving the way for Atkins’ appointment, with Commissioner Mark Uyeda serving as Acting Chair in the interim.

Congress Pushes Crypto Market Rules

The remarks come as Congress moves to create clearer rules for digital assets. The House of Representatives passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act in July 2025, a law designed to define and regulate U.S. crypto markets clearly. 

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott indicated bipartisan support for market structure legislation when the Senate returns from recess on September 2, 2025, noting as many as 18 Democrats could join Republicans in backing the bill.

Atkins also touched upon the Project Crypto initiative of the SEC, which is supposed to create regulatory frameworks to govern companies that trade in blockchain-based tokens, protecting investors without stifling innovation in the crypto market.

This direction is an indicator of a more discriminatory regulatory approach to digital assets, which gives clarity to businesses and investors who are trying to navigate the emerging U.S. crypto market.

Also Read: SEC Extends Review of Nine Crypto ETF Filings Into October



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Francisco Rodrigues
NFT Gaming

Australia’s Securities Regulator Taps Expert Trio to Probe ASX’s Operations

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Australia’s Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has turned to three of the country’s most seasoned finance figures to probe the inner workings of the Australian Securities Exchange, including the exchange’s doomed blockchain project.

ASIC launched the inquiry on June 16 over “ongoing concerns” it and the Reserve Bank of Australia expressed about the exchange’s ability to run stable and secure market plumbing.

Those concerns intensified when ASX scrapped a blockchain-based upgrade to its CHESS settlement engine in 2022, forcing a costly reset and drawing political heat. ASIC later sued ASX over making misleading statements on the project.

Rob Whitfield, a former Westpac chief risk officer and now a Commonwealth Bank director, will chair ASIC’s panel. Joining him are Christine Holman, who sits on the boards of utility AGL and restaurant operator Collins Foods, and Guy Debelle, a Reserve Bank of Australia’s former deputy governor.

The trio will inspect ASX’s governance, technical capability, and risk controls and recommend fixes for any weak spots.

Their brief stretches across the entire ASX group, which handles more than A$6 billion ($3.92 billion) in trades each day.

Read more: Australia’s Securities Regulator Sues ASX for Misleading Statements About Blockchain Project



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Crypto Trends

SEC Says Crypto Staking Not Subject to Securities Laws

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In brief

  • The SEC has clarified staking rules, excluding self-staking and custodial staking.
  • Its corporate finance division emphasized the importance of retaining ownership of assets.
  • Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw criticized the SEC guidance, calling the agency’s approach a “‘fake it ’till we make it'” outcome.

The SEC issued new guidance on crypto staking, confirming Thursday that most of the common staking activities aren’t subject to federal securities regulations, as long as specific conditions are met.

Protocol staking involves locking crypto assets that are “intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network,” the regulator wrote in its latest guidance on Thursday.

The same crypto assets could also be used “to participate in and/or earned for participating in such network’s consensus mechanism,” it added.

Consensus mechanisms are rules that help participants agree on the network’s state and verify transactions.

Staking on specific protocols does “not involve the offer and sale of securities” as defined under the Securities Act of 1933. The non-security status and definition of “Protocol Staking Activities” also extend to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The guidance effectively ends uncertainty following a tumultuous period under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler during the Biden era, who previously labeled most crypto as securities.

“The SEC’s decision-making process is more open and transparent than most regulators, which is a real strength of the U.S. system,” Michael Bacina, an executive in residence from the global policy think tank Global Digital Finance, told Decrypt.

“Given securities laws are designed to protect people from situations where others can mismanage (or steal) their assets, it’s hard to see the policy reasons why non-custodial staking services should be pulled into a regulatory net,” he added.

Under federal laws, a security is any financial instrument, like stocks, bonds, investment contracts, and derivatives, through which people invest money expecting profits derived from the efforts of others.

The SEC’s latest statements come less than a month after major crypto firms urged the agency to provide clear rules on staking, defining it as one “technical function necessary to secure” proof-of-stake networks, not a securities offering or investment scheme.



Types of staking covered

The guidance covers staking crypto on proof-of-stake networks and third-party operators, such as validators and custodians, for earning rewards.

The coverage includes three types of staking: self-staking, where participants stake their own assets; self-custodial staking, where owners delegate staking to node operators but keep ownership; and custodial staking, where custodians stake assets for customers.

However, the guidance does not cover practices like liquid staking and restaking, where providers have control over staking decisions that may still be subject to securities laws.

The staff guidance later claimed in a footnote that this was because the statement addresses protocol staking “generally rather than all of its variations.”

It’s worth noting that the guidance only reflects the views of SEC staff, which means it’s non-binding and does not carry the force of law.

Commissioner disagrees

SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw issued a sharp rebuke on Thursday, declaring crypto staking activities exempt from securities regulation run counter to applicable laws. 

The dissenting commissioner also said the new guidance contradicts court precedent, citing two cases involving U.S. crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase. She also cited a separate dismissal for Binance, released on the same day.

As a result, Crenshaw said the agency was undergoing a “‘fake it ’till we make it’ approach to crypto.”

“Rather than promote clarity, this approach continues to sow uncertainty around what the law is and what parts of it the Commission is willing to enforce,” she wrote.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

Editor’s note: Adds comments from Michael Bacina

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GameFi Guides

SEC Says Staking Activities Not Securities

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

In a significant development for the industry, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance shared its view on crypto staking after the recent call for clear guidance on the sector. The SEC branch seeks to “provide greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto assets.”

SEC Offers Clarity On Crypto Staking

On Thursday, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued new guidance on Protocol Staking, affirming that most of these activities are not subject to US securities laws and “don’t need to register with the Commission transactions under the Securities Act.”

In its statement, the regulatory agency said that certain staking activities on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks are not considered securities transactions under federal regulations. The SEC explained that the new guidance addresses the staking of cryptocurrencies “intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network.”

Therefore, these activities, including self-staking, self-custodial staking with direct third-party validators, and custodial staking where platforms stake assets on behalf of customers, don’t meet the criteria for an investment contract under the Howey Test and don’t involve the offer and sale of securities.

Journalist Eleanor Terret highlighted that the SEC’s statement “is a big deal for ETF providers who want to offer staking,” as it clarifies that “staking in this format is generally not thought of as a securities transaction by the Division of Corporation Finance.”

However, the guidance noted that it doesn’t address all staking practices: “This statement addresses Protocol Staking generally rather than all of its variations. Further, this statement does not address all forms of ‘staking,’ such as so-called ‘liquid staking,’ ‘restaking’ or ‘liquid restaking.’”

‘Stake It Till You Make It’?

Following the news, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated that the new guidance “provides welcome clarity for stakers” as uncertainty surrounding regulatory views discouraged Americans from engaging in staking activities for fear of violating securities laws.

“Providing Security is not a ‘Security,’” she affirmed, adding that the unclear rules “artificially constrained participation in network consensus and undermined the decentralization, censorship resistance, and credible neutrality of proof-of-stake blockchains.”

The new guidance follows the industry’s call for clear staking rules, where a coalition of nearly 30 industry players and advocacy groups urged the SEC to offer clarity. As reported by Bitcoinist, the Crypto Council for Innovation’s (CCI) Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA) sent a letter signed by 29 industry giants to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force on April 30.

Acknowledging the SEC’s regulatory shift under the Trump administration, the letter argued that the existing securities disclosure regime was ill-suited for staking services, which are fundamentally technical instead of financial.

The crypto coalition asked for clear, principles-based guidance for staking and staking services, citing the SEC’s March statement on Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining, to protect users while enabling the growth of the staking industry.

However, not all SEC Commissioners agreed with the new guidance. Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw expressed her discontent in a Thursday statement, claiming that “staff ignores how its conclusions conflict with that applicable law.”

Crenshaw considers that the Division of Corporation Finance’s analysis “may reflect what some wish the law to be, but it does not square with the court decisions on staking and the longstanding Howey precedent on which they are based,” affirming that “This is yet another example of the SEC’s ongoing ‘fake it ‘till we make it’ approach to crypto – taking action based on anticipation of future changes while ignoring existing law.”

Total crypto market capitalization is at $3.27 trillion in the one-week chart. Source: TOTAL on TradingView

Featured Image from NBC News, Chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.



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Many NFTs that pay creators over time are not securities: SEC’s Hester Peirce
NFT Gaming

Many NFTs that pay creators over time are not securities: SEC’s Hester Peirce

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United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce said many non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including those with mechanisms to pay creator royalties, likely fall outside the purview of federal securities laws.

In a recent speech, Peirce said NFTs that allow artists to earn resale revenue do not automatically qualify as securities. Unlike stocks, NFTs are programmable assets that distribute proceeds to developers or artists. The SEC official said that mirrors how streaming platforms compensate musicians and filmmakers. 

“Just as streaming platforms pay royalties to the creator of a song or video each time a user plays it, an NFT can enable artists to benefit from the appreciation in the value of their work after its initial sale,” Peirce said. 

Peirce added that the feature does not provide NFT owners any rights or interest in any business enterprise or profits “traditionally associated with securities.”

SEC never prohibited NFT royalties

Oscar Franklin Tan, chief legal officer of Enjin core contributor Atlas Development Services, told Cointelegraph that the recent remarks by Peirce on NFTs and creator royalties have been widely misunderstood. 

Peirce had clarified that NFTs that send resale royalties to artists are not necessarily securities, a view Tan says is legally sound but mischaracterized in some media reports. 

“So Hester Peirce said that an NFT that sends royalties back to the creator after a sale is not a security. This is correct, but the way some media reported this is completely out of context,” Tan told Cointelegraph. “The actual context is that this is not controversial, and it was never considered a security.”

The lawyer said US securities law focuses on regulating investments and not compensating creators for their work.

“The artist or creator is not an investor, not a passive third party in the NFT,” he said, noting that royalty payments are not considered investment income. 

Instead, Tan told Cointelegraph that this type of earning is “analogous to business income,” which the SEC does not regulate. He added: 

“The SEC never prohibited contracts where artists and creators get royalties from secondary sales of their work, not royalties from paper contracts or blockchain protocols.”

Tan explained that the legal distinction becomes more complicated when NFTs promise shared profits from royalties to multiple holders beyond the original creator. 

Tan also urged regulators and market participants to apply traditional legal reasoning to new blockchain technologies. “Ask yourself, if this were done by pen and paper instead of blockchain, would there still be a regulatory issue?” he said. “If none, slow down.”

Source: Oscar Franklin Tan

Related: SEC charges Unicoin crypto platform over alleged $100 million fraud

OpenSea calls on the SEC to exempt NFT marketplaces from oversight

While NFT royalties may not have been a controversial SEC issue, NFT marketplaces are a different case. In August 2024, NFT trading platform OpenSea received a Wells notice from the SEC, alleging that NFTs traded on the marketplace could qualify as unregistered securities. 

On Feb. 22, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer announced that the SEC has officially closed its investigation into the platform. The executive said that this was a win for the industry. 

Following the conclusion of the SEC’s investigation, OpenSea’s lawyers penned a letter to Peirce, who leads the SEC’s Crypto Task Force. OpenSea general counsel Adele Faure and deputy general counsel Laura Brookover said in an April 9 letter that NFT marketplaces don’t qualify as brokers under US securities laws. 

The lawyers said the marketplaces don’t execute transactions or act as intermediaries. The lawyers urged the SEC to “clearly state that NFT marketplaces like OpenSea do not qualify as exchanges under federal securities laws.”

Magazine: NBA star Tristan Thompson misses $32B in Bitcoin by taking $82M contract in cash



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A Unicoin taxi cab ad in Manhattan in May 2024. (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)
Crypto Trends

SEC Charges Unicoin, Top Executives With $100M ‘Massive Securities Fraud’

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued crypto company Unicoin and three executives on Tuesday night on fraud charges, saying the company raised over $100 million for tokens that were not actually backed by the real estate its executives claimed.

The SEC sued Unicoin, CEO Alexander Konanykhin, former board chair Maria Moschini, senior vice president and general counsel Richard Devlin and former chief investment officer and investor relations officer Alejandro Dominguez on securities law violations,

Among its allegations, the SEC said Unicoin never actually owned the real estate properties it told investors it had acquired, and that those properties’ values were inflated.

“For example, between September 2023 and January 2024, the Promoting Defendants announced acquisitions of properties in Argentina, Thailand, Antigua, and the Bahamas, purportedly with appraised values totaling more than of $1.4 billion; in fact, the majority of those transactions never closed and the actual combined value of the four properties was no more than $300 million,” the complaint said.

The defendants also “overstated the Company’s sales” of its rights certificates, suggesting in social media posts and to investors that it had raised far more funds than it actually had, the SEC alleged. While Unicoin claimed it had made $3 billion in sales by June 2024, it actually never sold more than $110 million in its rights certificates, according to the complaint.

Moreover, Unicoin advertised its rights certificates, including by promising outsized returns of up to 9 million percent, the SEC alleged, pointing to marketing efforts on taxi cabs, ferries, “office building elevator screens,” digital billboards, coasters, television programs, news websites and public wi-fi kiosks.

A Unicoin taxi cab ad in Manhattan in May 2024. (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

“Additional examples of the Promoting Defendants’ statements include: (a) social media and website posts that touted potential returns of 9,000,000% based on bitcoin’s 9,000,000% growth in the past 10 years and told investors to ‘take advantage of the early days of Unicoin and get them today,’ highlighting that ‘Bitcoin experienced a tremendous rise in value, transforming early adopters into millionaires, and even billionaires,'” the filing said.

Read more: Unicoin CEO: Why Are We Still Under the SEC’s Gun?

Unicoin received a Wells notice from the SEC last December, informing the company that the regulator — then under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler — intended to file securities fraud charges. Last month, Konanykhin sent a letter to Unicoin’s shareholders, informing them that the company had rebuffed the SEC’s attempt to settle the charges, rejecting what he described as an “ultimatum” to attend a settlement negotiation meeting by April 18.

“We declined to show up,” Konanykhin told CoinDesk in an April interview, adding that the SEC had made certain pre-meeting demands he deemed “unacceptable” and claiming that the SEC’s probe had caused “multi-billion-dollar damages” to the company.

Read more: Unicoin CEO Reject’s SEC’s Attempt to Settle Enforcement Probe

Neither Konanykhin nor a spokesperson for Unicoin responded to CoinDesk’s request for comment by press time. In a press release shared earlier this year in response to a Wall Street Journal article, a spokesperson said, “Unicoin, the only fully U.S.-registered, U.S.-regulated, U.S.-audited, and U.S.-publicly reporting cryptocurrency company, has consistently complied with all regulations.”

According to court documents, the SEC is seeking disgorgement and civil penalties.



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