SEC Eases Stance: Most Tokens Not Securities, Backs Crypto Super-Apps

The new head of the SEC Paul Atkins reshuffles the cards of crypto regulation in the United States. Gone is the stick strategy and in its place a unified and more predictable framework. We give you all the details in the following paragraphs.

The SEC Turns the Page on Mass Litigation

The chairman of the SEC now considers that most crypto assets do not fall into the category of securities. Paul Atkins indeed opened his speech at the OECD in Paris with a strong promise: no more regulation by fear.

A statement that disrupts established practices. Until now, the SEC had multiplied legal proceedings, often seen as arbitrary. Platforms like Coinbase and Ripple suffered the consequences.

With this change of tone, Atkins hopes to establish a clear and predictable regulatory framework. Moreover, his message targets both markets and legislators.

Goal: A Super-Framework for Crypto Super-Apps

The SEC is currently preparing a comprehensive reform under the label “Project Crypto”. It aims to gather in a single framework the activities of:

• trading;
• lending;
• staking of digital assets.

It would therefore be a kind of “single rule” that would allow crypto platforms to adopt a super-app style architecture, similar to the Asian giants. They could notably offer all their services under a common license. Multi-format custody solutions would also be better regulated, without stifling innovation.

Atkins also praises the European regulatory choices. He cites as an example the MiCA framework, considered more coherent and structured than the current American texts. At the same time, he clearly emphasizes that the SEC’s ambition remains the same: to protect investors. However, he advocates for a “minimal effective dose” of regulation. In other words, avoiding duplication and unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that benefit large established players, to the detriment of young projects.

His speech therefore opens the door to international cooperation, with a vision more aligned with the practices of other jurisdictions. It remains to be seen whether this direction will appeal to other regulators as well as the major banks, still wary.