SEC Chair Paul Atkins told CNBC that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) typically do not meet the legal definition of securities under the agency’s recent guidance. The SEC’s interpretive release lays out four categories of digital assets that are usually outside securities laws: digital commodities, digital tools, digital collectibles (which include NFTs), and stablecoins.
During the interview, host Andrew Ross Sorkin questioned whether some digital collectibles might be structured like securities. Atkins emphasized that any classification depends on the specific facts and circumstances and turns on whether an asset fits the long-established test for an investment contract. In practice, he said, many digital collectibles resemble traditional physical collectibles—things people buy to hold—rather than instruments sold as investment contracts.
Atkins described items such as baseball cards, memes, memecoins and many NFTs as purchases that are essentially immutable ownership of a collectible, not products marketed or structured as investments to generate returns through others’ efforts. That factual inquiry, he stressed, is central to whether a token would be treated as a security.
As chair, Atkins has pushed the SEC away from relying primarily on enforcement actions in the digital-asset space and toward clearer, more predictable guidance. He criticized the prior enforcement-first approach and argued regulators should support tokenization and innovation rather than unduly restrict them.
Atkins warned that earlier regulatory missteps set the U.S. back in crypto development—by as much as a decade—and said his goal is to reverse that trend with clearer rules and reduced uncertainty for market participants.