Accredited Investor
An accredited investor is a person or entity that meets SEC income, net-worth, or professional-license thresholds and is therefore allowed to invest in certain private, unregistered securities offerings.
An accredited investor is someone the SEC considers financially able - by wealth, income, or credentials - to invest in private offerings that aren't registered with regulators. Most tokenized real-world-asset deals in the US are sold only to accredited investors, so whether you qualify often decides whether you can invest at all.
For an individual, the main US thresholds (as of 2026) are: annual income over $200,000 (or $300,000 jointly with a spouse) in each of the last two years with the expectation of the same this year, or a net worth over $1 million excluding the value of your primary residence. Since 2020, certain professional licenses - Series 7, 65, or 82 - also qualify you, regardless of wealth. Entities such as funds and trusts qualify under their own asset tests.
Accreditation unlocks the common exemptions used to raise RWA capital, Regulation D and especially Rule 506(c), which lets issuers advertise publicly but requires every buyer to be accredited.
Under 506(c), the issuer can't simply take your word - it must take reasonable steps to confirm your status through accreditation verification, typically by reviewing tax forms, bank statements, or a letter from your CPA or attorney. If you don't meet these tests, you are a non-accredited investor, and most tokenized private deals are closed to you, though some use other exemptions that admit you.
Source: SEC (sec.gov), as of 2026.
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Educational content, not financial or legal advice.