Paul Atkins testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Committee during his confirmation hearing to be Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins told senators Thursday that "it's time to consider alternatives" beyond wealth and income for determining who qualifies as an accredited investor.

During a question and answer session at a Senate Banking Committee SEC oversight hearing, the committee's chairman, Tim Scott-R-S.C., asked Atkins what the agency is doing to expand the accredited investor definition "and, more broadly, to ensure that it does not take wealth to build wealth."

Atkins responded: "I think it is time to consider other alternatives. Why should a professor making $100,000 who's an economist or … financial professor not be an accredited investor? But somebody who's just inherited $3 million, or something like that, is? That's not the way things should be, we should have ways for people who are willing to take risks and then demonstrate the knowledge" potentially via a test.

"Hopefully we'll see the next iteration of that [accredited investor] definition coming out of the SEC soon," Scott said.

Last September, Emily Kapszukiewicz, CEO of the health care startup Owl Therapy, who has a master's degree in applied economics, sued the SEC over its accredited investor rule. Kapszukiewicz has a net worth of $850,000, an annual income of approximately $195,000, and is not an "accredited investor" according to SEC regulations, the lawsuit states.

The Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act, which passed the House last December as part of the INVEST Act, requires the SEC to direct the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to create and administer a "new, rigorous investment exam" to earn accredited investor status.

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