The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly probing Yuga Labs, Inc., the company behind the top-selling non-fungible token (NFT) collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), for its issuance of the digital assets, according to a Bloomberg report.
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Fast facts
- The report cited a person familiar with the matter who said the agency is determining if Yuga Labs’ sale of BAYC was akin to a stock offering, thus, should have been subject to the same disclosure requirements.
- SEC has recently charged a number of cryptocurrency issuers in connection with the sale of unregistered securities, with an ongoing case against Ripple Labs, Inc. for the sale of its native XRP token. The agency has reportedly expanded its scrutiny to the NFT market.
- Yuga Labs has not been accused of any wrongdoing at this point, the report said, but the investigation could determine whether offerings of BAYC and ApeCoin, Yuga Labs’ native cryptocurrency token, violated federal securities law.
- In a statement to Bloomberg, Yuga Labs reportedly said it would fully cooperate with any inquiries from the SEC and hopes to partner with regulators moving forward.
- The SEC is also reportedly determining if ApeCoin, which was created by the ApeCoin DAO and given to holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club, should qualify as an unregistered security.
- Since the news broke, ApeCoin has lost almost a tenth of its value as of press time, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
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