This article is based on Decrypt's 'Morning Minute,' a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner (@Tyler_Did_It). The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance updated its crypto FAQ on Friday with what Decrypt's Morning Minute called the most consequential line the staff has written all year: once a network is functional, announcing a token buyback does not amount to a promise of “essential managerial efforts.”

The Howey test asks whether a buyer is purchasing an asset with the expectation that a company's efforts will make them money — if so, it is a security. The SEC's updated position says announcing a buyback is not that kind of promise. Per the newsletter, it is a major development for protocols that have been in limbo since the prior administration's “war on crypto.”

The staff went further. Maintaining, upgrading, or growing a functional network does not satisfy Howey either, and neither does promoting what a network currently does or making vague aspirational statements that do not tout profit.

Gabriel Shapiro, a securities attorney at MetaLeX Labs and former general counsel at Delphi Labs, said the buyback section “goes further than I expected,” and that securities laws are starting to look opt-in as the SEC applies them to crypto.

There is a hard line on the other side. If a network is not yet functional and an issuer pitches a buyback as a source of yield or returns for holders, securities laws can still be triggered. The guidance is a filter, not a blanket pass: ship a working product and buy back your token, and you are fine; promise returns before you have a product, and you remain exposed.

Who Runs Token Buybacks

DefiLlama tracks buyback programs at HYPE, PUMP, ENA, AAVE, SKY, LDO, PENDLE, AERO, RAY, JTO, NEAR, ETHFI, SYRUP, LIT, ASTER, KMNO, MET, CC, CARDS, PONS, and STONK, among others. Every one of those protocols runs a live product with revenue. Hyperliquid routes USDC reserve yield into HYPE buybacks under AQAv2; Pump.fun has burned $451 million, about 16.6% of supply; Pons sends roughly 80% of V1 revenue to buybacks; and Ethena's holders voted to route 95% of net revenue to ENA. All were built in a legal gray zone they have now come out of, per the newsletter.

In the newsletter's view, the guidance quietly endorses the model the industry has converged on this year — tokens as claims on protocol cash flow rather than bets on future development. That “revenue meta” now has regulatory approval, prompting Warner to quip that it is “time to re all the good project tokens higher.”

Markets Pull Back After a Strong Weekly Close

Crypto majors are red after Bitcoin closed its highest week since January. BTC is down 2% at $83k; ETH is down 2% at $2,670; SOL is down 5% at $119; HYPE is down 4% at $90; and ZEC is down 6% at $1,570.

Top alt movers include QNT (+45%), HBAR (+24%), PUMP (+12%) and ALGO (+12%). Pump flipped Hyperliquid in revenue on the week, with PUMP gaining 11%.

Oil rose 4% to $96, while gold fell 3% to $4,185. Stock futures are red as rates and oil climb: the Dow is down 0.5% and the Nasdaq is down 0.8%.

Network and Company News

Vitalik Buterin laid out where Ethereum goes by 2030, saying it will not really be a blockchain anymore; instead of every computer redoing the same math, most of the work moves off-chain and is checked with cryptographic proofs.

Solana's upgrade to settle transactions in 150 milliseconds reached a second public test network, the step before it can go live.

Citi announced a partnership with Coinbase to provide stablecoin support for its institutional clients.

Prosecutors seized about $84 million from a payments firm that moved money for Tether and Bitfinex, saying the firm lied to Wells Fargo and JPMorgan about what it did to get bank accounts.

Analysts said Binance's $100 million investment in Circle helps USDC close the gap with Tether, since the deal puts USDC in front of the biggest exchange's users for the next five years.

Bitget reopened Bitcoin withdrawals Monday, four days after an attacker took about $388 million. Ethereum withdrawals followed Tuesday, USDT on Wednesday, and everything else on October 2. The exchange says it fixed the flaw and users keep their full balances.

One group took at least $18.43 million across 53 Robinhood Chain token launches between July 10 and September 21, according to analyst Wazz, mostly through Pons V2. CRUMBS, LEGS, and PINK took $3.12 million, $2.9 million, and $1.44 million, respectively.

Corporate Treasuries and ETFs

Bitcoin ETFs saw $135 million in net inflows on Friday, per Coinglass, and closed a $2.39 billion week with seven straight green days. Ethereum ETFs saw $87 million in inflows and closed a $690 million week.

Meme Coin Tracker

Meme leaders were red, down 5–7%: DOGE -5%, SHIB -5%, PEPE -4%, PENGU -5%, TRUMP -6%, SPX -7%, BONK -6%.

Robinhood Chain leaders were mostly red: Pons fell 12% to $370 million, AI slipped 2% to $222 million, and Cashcat rose 5% to $188 million, while Wallet (+115%) and Delta (+20%) led top movers.

Solana's top movers were led by e/acc (+100%), SI (+20%) and Baton (+50%); Ansem fell 7% to $160 million.

Binance announced support for Marscoin with its SPCX reflection and 牛来 with QQQ.

Token, Airdrop and Protocol Tracker

Aave introduced seven Coinbase tokenized stocks — including Apple, Nvidia and Tesla — as collateral options in Aave v4 on Base.

Pump led onchain protocols in revenue over the past seven days with $15.16 million, followed by Hyperliquid ($15.06 million), Stonkfun ($7.48 million) and Collector Crypt ($3.24 million).

NFTs

NFT leaders were mostly red over the weekend. Punks were flat at 33.69 ETH, BAYC fell 10% to 6.25 ETH, and Pudgy Penguins slipped 4% to 3.27 ETH. Ringers (+50%) and Kodas (+10%) led the top movers.

Source: Decrypt — 'Morning Minute: SEC Clears Token Buybacks for Crypto Networks' (original article)