Key Takeaways:
- SEC Closes Investigation: Yuga Labs announced that the SEC has officially ended its probe into the company, marking a major win for NFTs.
- Market Reaction: Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs saw a brief price uptick, but values remain significantly below 2022 highs.
- Regulatory Trend: The SEC has also closed investigations into OpenSea and dropped cases against Coinbase and Kraken, signaling a potential shift in approach.
Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and other prominent NFT collections, has announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially closed its investigation into the firm.
The probe, which began in late 2022, sought to determine whether certain NFTs should be classified as securities under U.S. law.
After 3+ years, the SEC has officially closed its investigation into Yuga Labs.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 3, 2025
This is a huge win for NFTs and all creators pushing our ecosystem forward. NFTs are not securities.
Yuga Labs celebrated the decision as a “huge win for NFTs and all creators,” asserting that NFTs are not securities.
The SEC’s investigation was part of a broader regulatory effort to scrutinize NFT marketplaces and creators, particularly fractionalized NFTs.
The closure of the case follows a trend of the SEC stepping back from legal battles in the crypto industry, including dropping lawsuits against major exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken, as well as ending an investigation into NFT marketplace OpenSea.
The SEC’s decision suggests a potential regulatory shift in its approach to NFTs and crypto.