OpenSea Receives Wells Notice From US SEC

OpenSea, the industry’s premier Non-Fungible Token (NFT) trading platform has just received a Wells Notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is the latest in the series of related crackdowns on entities within the digital currency ecosystem. Notably, this does not completely signify the commencement of a lawsuit from the Gary Gensler-led markets regulator.

The OpenSea and US SEC Shakedown

According to insights shared by Devin Finzer, the markets regulator said it believes the digital collectibles traded on the platform are securities. It is worth noting that a couple of other crypto-inclined firms including Robinhood, Kraken, ConsenSys, Uniswap and Coinbase have equally been caught in such crosshatch with the regulator in the past.

In Uniswap’s case, the SEC has initially launched a probe into its operations long before it even issued the legal notice. Though the actual nature of the investigation was not known at the time, experts suspected links to a violation of securities laws like in the case of Coinbase and Binance. Therefore, the Wells Notice hardly came as a surprise to the decentralized protocol.

Unlike the Wells Notice filed against Uniswap, Finzer noted that the claims came as a shock as it did not expect the US SEC will make such move against artists and creators. The exchange has committed to standing its ground against the regulator as it believes its products are not securities.

The issuance of a Wells Notice against OpenSea comes off as subtle jab to former US President Donald Trump. As reported earlier, Donald Trump launched Series 4 NFT Collection recently. If the NFT as a securities claim holds, the Trump Campaign organization might also be liable.

Does NFT Sector Stand a Chance at Revival?

The CEO of the NFT marketplace thinks the US SEC is venturing into “uncharted territory.” Finzer suggested that an attack on the digital collectibles ecosystem would significantly stifle innovation on an even broader scale. For context, several online artists and creatives are likely to face the negative impact of this move from the regulator.

Unfortunately, quite a number of them do not have the resources to defend themselves.

Generally, this does not seem like a good time for such steps considering that the NFT ecosystem has not seen any tangible performance in the last few months. While the sector is grappling to gain positive attention, this action from the SEC may stifle its only opportunity.

Many of the protocols in the sector are making efforts towards reviving the NFT ecosystem. Magic Eden plans to launch a native token “ME.” This native token is currently under development by the ME Foundation.