According to @EleanorTerrett, Paul Atkins stated that a token is not a security merely because it was once part of an investment contract, echoing the citrus grove example at the core of the Howey standard, source: Eleanor Terrett on X, Nov 12, 2025; source: SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293, 1946. This reinforces that U.S. securities analysis turns on the specifics of the offer and sale rather than the intrinsic nature of a digital asset, source: SEC Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, Framework for Investment Contract Analysis of Digital Assets, April 2019. Courts have applied this distinction by finding some institutional token sales to be investment contracts while not deeming certain secondary market sales as such, as in the XRP summary judgment, source: SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc., SDNY, summary judgment order by Judge Analisa Torres, July 13, 2023. For trading strategy, risk assessment should distinguish primary fundraising transactions from spot secondary trading because the latter received more favorable treatment in the XRP ruling, shaping exchange listing risk and liquidity for XRP, source: SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc., SDNY, summary judgment order by Judge Analisa Torres, July 13, 2023.

According to @iampaulgrewal, the SEC Chairman delivered a history lesson on Howey in the Hills, highlighting the framework used to assess investment contracts under U.S. securities law. Source: @iampaulgrewal on X, Nov 12, 2025. He relays the line “Promises may not remain forever” and argues that when those promises end, an asset’s status as an investment contract should also end, underscoring the potential for time-based changes in classification that market participants track. Source: @iampaulgrewal on X, Nov 12, 2025. The Howey test defining investment contracts originates from the U.S. Supreme Court case SEC v. W. J. Howey Co. in 1946, which provides the legal basis for evaluating whether certain arrangements involve an investment of money in a common enterprise with an expectation of profit from the efforts of others. Source: U.S. Supreme Court, SEC v. W. J. Howey Co., 1946.