NFT market OpenSea is asking U.S. regulators to make clear that it and platforms prefer it shouldn’t be handled as securities exchanges or brokers.
The request comes simply months after the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) dropped a probe into the corporate’s alleged violation of federal securities legal guidelines.
In a letter dated April 9, OpenSea’s common counsel, Adele Faure, and deputy common counsel Laura Brookover urged SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce to situation casual steering affirming that NFT marketplaces fall outdoors the scope of broker-dealer and trade guidelines.
“Classifying OpenSea and comparable NFT marketplaces as securities exchanges or brokers can be regulatory overreach,” they wrote.
The corporate contends it doesn’t meet the authorized definition of an trade underneath U.S. securities legal guidelines as a result of it doesn’t execute transactions or act as an middleman.
OpenSea describes itself extra as a digital bazaar than a buying and selling ground, “permitting individuals to find NFTs and join with consumers and sellers” relatively than facilitating trades within the conventional sense.
It additionally pushed again on the dealer label, saying it doesn’t present funding recommendation, negotiate offers, or custody buyer belongings. In the long term, it has requested the Fee to exempt NFT marketplaces like OpenSea from proposed dealer regulation.
The letter follows the SEC’s resolution in February to shelve a number of high-profile investigations into crypto corporations, together with one into OpenSea.
These choices got here amid a broader coverage pivot underneath Donald Trump that has embraced the crypto business, although skeptics query whether or not the president is just attempting to counterpoint himself.
Regardless of Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally and the DeFi sector’s progress, NFTs have remained within the doldrums over the previous couple of years.
In 2024, buying and selling volumes and gross sales counts dropped to their weakest ranges since 2020. Annual buying and selling volumes fell by 19%, whereas gross sales had been down by 18% in comparison with the yr earlier than.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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