SEC Chair Atkins: NFTs Generally Not Securities

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said nonfungible tokens (NFTs) generally fall outside securities laws. In a CNBC interview, Atkins pointed to a recent SEC interpretive release that groups digital assets into four categories typically not treated as securities: digital commodities, digital tools, digital collectibles (including NFTs), and stablecoins. Atkins stressed that whether a digital asset is a security depends on facts and circumstances, especially whether it involves an investment contract under existing legal precedent. On “digital collectibles,” he argued they are usually bought and held like physical collectibles, rather than traded as investment contracts. He compared NFTs to collectibles such as baseball cards or memes, describing NFTs as “immutable” purchases rather than trading vehicles. Atkins also framed the SEC’s approach as a shift away from enforcement-led crypto policy, aiming for clearer guidance and a more predictable regulatory framework. He referenced prior criticism of “regulation through enforcement,” suggested tokenization is an innovation regulators should support, and said earlier regulatory missteps may have left the U.S. lagging crypto development by up to a decade. For traders, the key takeaway is that the SEC’s posture is becoming more structured for many common NFT-style assets, though individual token design and distribution still matter.