It turns out that the SEC is investigating Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection and its independent side project ApeCoin (APE). So, what could the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investigation lead to?
ApeCoin and BAYC ecosystem in focus of SEC
The SEC is said to be investigating Yuga Labs, creators and distributors of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, for illegal securities offerings. In some cases, artworks are already considered securities under US law. According to the majority, NFTs should also be registered as such. However, it is not yet clear that the SEC applies this logic in this particular case.
The SEC is specifically trying to determine whether any of the NFTs the company offers should be considered securities. If such a factor arises, the project will be treated more like stock for regulatory purposes. He would have to follow the same disclosure procedures.
The SEC did not comment
Specifically, the investigation is believed to focus on the original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection in addition to the ApeCoin (APE) project, although technically independent. ApeCoin was launched in March 2022 by the ApeCoin DAO, which denied any official connection with Yuga Labs. However, ApeCoin will serve as the native currency for Yuga Labs’ metaverse Otherside ecosystem. The only requirement to be a member of ApeCoin DAO is to have an APE.
As this is a private investigation, the SEC has not issued any comment on the matter. Bloomberg made these claims. cryptocoin.com As we reported, Yuga Labs launched its highly successful avatar project in 2021. Initially sold at 0.08 ETH each, the ten thousand items in the collection have collectively become the world’s most valuable NFTs.
Will other NFT coins be affected?
Now that the SEC is investigating Yuga Labs, it’s clear that the NFT space is the next regulator’s target. To some, this indicates that the SEC is considering NFTs as securities. In his action against Kim Kardashian last week, he used the word “securities” three times in public statements to describe cryptoassets. In the future, legal experts are expected to reveal the technical details.
However, it should be noted that the SEC does not blame Yuga Labs in any way. At this point, it should be emphasized again that there is no evidence of any accusations. Still, the news is making many people nervous. Some altcoins related to NFT projects are as follows:
- My Neighbor Alice (ALICE)
- Axie Infinity (AXS)
- Chromia (CHR)
- Enjin Coin (ENJ)
- Gala (GALA)
- Alien Worlds (TLM)
- Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
- Token NFT (TNFT)
- LTO Network (LTO)
- Fetch.ai (FET)
