SEC threatens OpenSea with legal action, claims NFTs are securities

Non-fungible token (nft) marketplace OpenSea has received a notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) threatening legal action over the classification of nfts as securities.

Devin Finzer, CEO of OpenSea x.com/dfinzer/status/1828791832009953706″ rel=”noopener nofollow noreferrer”>shared x said the company is shocked by the SEC’s “sweeping move against creators and artists” and vowed to fight the potential lawsuit.

While acknowledging that the SEC’s approach to regulating the market through enforcement is not new, and citing the regulator’s actions against crypto firms like Coinbase, Uniswap and Kraken, Finzer stressed that considering nfts as securities is “uncharted territory.”

“By targeting nfts, the SEC would stifle innovation on an even larger scale: hundreds of thousands of artists and online creatives are at risk, and many do not have the resources to fight back,” he added.

Finzer also shared that OpenSea considers nfts to be fundamentally creative goods, including art, collectibles, and video game items, and should not be regulated as financial securities.

Furthermore, the CEO of the nft marketplace briefly mentions how digital collectibles recorded on the blockchain have an impact on professionals from different industries, such as independent game developers and student artists.