It’s unclear whether the SEC will pursue an enforcement action against the OpenSea marketplace, but its CEO alleged regulators “believe NFTs on our platform are securities.”
Leaders and advocacy groups from the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry have criticized the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its chair, Gary Gensler, for issuing a Wells notice to non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea.
OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer reported on Aug. 28 that the SEC had warned the NFT platform about a potential enforcement action. The Wells notice marked one of the few times the US regulator had considered labeling an NFT as an unregistered security under its purview, though it’s unclear whether the SEC will pursue enforcement against OpenSea.
“The SEC’s assertion that NFT platforms should be regulated as securities exchange is not only legally flawed but utterly ridiculous,” said Ji Kim, chief legal and policy officer at the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI), in an Aug. 28 X post.
