Solana Foundation: SOL Is 'Not a Security'

The Solana Foundation is disputing the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) classification of its SOL token as an unregistered security.

Earlier this week, the SEC filed lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance.US and Coinbase, which charged the exchanges with trading crypto asset securities, including SOL.

“The Solana Foundation strongly believes that SOL is not a security,” the Solana Foundation told CoinDesk in a statement. “SOL is the native token to the Solana blockchain, a robust, open-source, community-based software project that relies on decentralized user and developer engagement to expand and evolve.”

At Solana’s Thursday hacker house event in New York City, New York it appeared the Solana community wasn’t overly concerned with the chain’s regulatory nuisances.

“I don’t think any of the developers give a shit,” a developer told CoinDesk at the hacker house on Thursday. “SOL being a security doesn’t really affect anyone building on top of Solana.”

In its Binance.US and Coinbase lawsuits, the SEC also identified tokens issued by foundations and companies or tied to protocols Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Sandbox (SAND), Filecoin (FIL), Axie Infinity (AXS), Chiliz (CHZ), Flow (FLOW), Internet Computer (ICP), Near (NEAR), Voyager (VGX), Dash (DASH) and Nexo (NEXO) as securities.

Update (June 9, 15:57 UTC): Clarifies sub headline.

Edited by Stephen Alpher.