2023-08-29 00:10:10
© Reuters. SEC strikes again and says several NFTs are securities
CriptoFácil – Impact Theory, a media company that sold NFTs to finance its operations, has reached a cease and desist agreement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleges that the sale of these NFTs represented an offer of unregistered securities.
The order alleges that Impact Theory sold multiple tiers of NFTs to fund its operations and promised to provide “tremendous value” to buyers of the digital assets.
The company has repeatedly made clear that these NFTs were to represent “the mechanism by which communities would be able to capture economic value from the growth of the company they support.” Impact Theory raised around $30 million from the sale of these NFTs.
The company had previously agreed to buy back the NFTs and has now agreed to destroy all tokens in its possession, eliminate the royalty fee from any existing assets and come up with a plan to continue to return funds to investors.
Although the Impact Theory collection is not one of the blue chip NFTs on the market like BAYC (Bored Ape) or Azuki, several cryptocurrency market personalities said that the case set a dangerous precedent for the NFT market.
NFTs na mira da SEC
On social media, several experts say this case represents a new involvement of the SEC with the lucrative NFT market, and could be a prelude to a larger effort to include NFTs in its jurisdiction.
Most NFT collections carry out an initial sale of their non-fungible tokens and then they are linked to physical or digital benefits, making it clear that their sale is the main source that finances the development of the enterprise. This is precisely the case with Impact Theory, which was considered a security sale.
However, SEC Commissioners were not unanimous in their support for this action, with Commissioner Hester Peirce and Commissioner Mark Uyeda releasing a statement detailing their disagreements.
His statement specifically outlines his concerns that “even though NFT sales here fit neatly into the [Teste Howey]does this set of facts justify an enforcement action?”
They specifically point out that the SEC “does not typically take enforcement action against people who sell watches, paintings, or collectibles along with vague promises to build the brand and thereby increase the resale value of those tangible items.”
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