The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Paul Atkins announced at the event Salt Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2025, that “only a few tokens” belong to the category of securities.

Atkins noted that the SEC cryptocurrency division is developing in relation to digital assets of the rules that in the future can affect the attitude of the department to industry companies. Atkins made a reference to the case of orange trees from 1946. Then the Supreme Court determined the criteria according to which the financial agreement may be considered an investment contract and fall under the laws of securities. The court ruled that an investment contract is a transaction in which a person invests in a common enterprise and expects a profit exclusively from the efforts of the founder of the enterprise or a third party.

“We cannot consider the oranges themselves or tokens ourselves only as securities, and we will continue to promote this idea. In my opinion, very few tokens should be classified as securities, ”Atkins said.

The SEC chairman emphasized that the agency plans to regulate the cryptocurrency industry independently while Congress is considering complex legislation on crypto. Atkins spoke out in support of the recently adopted Genius Act Law, which regulates the activities of emitators of stablecoins. According to Atkins, having adopted this law, Congress advanced in regulating the industry.

Atkins also stated that the SEC will have to conduct a “general cleaning” after the previous administration of Joe Biden and the former SEC chairman Gary Gensler. Hensler often stated that all crypto acts, except bitcoin and ether, are securities.

Atkins recently confirmed that the SEC does not consider ether a security. The head of the department recognized that the Ethereum blockchain is important for crypto projects, since most desentralized finance projects are created on the basis of this network.