SEC 对 Stoner Cats 2 提出指控：800 万美元发行的 NFT 被视为未注册证券
2023-09-14 03:32:58
9月14日讯，根据 SEC 周三（9月13日）发布的命令，SC2 于2021 年 7 月 27 日以每张 800 美元左右的价格发售并出售了超过10,000 个 NFT，仅 35 分钟就售罄。SEC 表示，营销活动强调了在二级市场上转售 NFT 的能力等好处。
SC2 还强调了好莱坞制片人的专业知识、加密货币知识以及著名演员的参与，这使得投资者期望如果该网络剧成功，可以从转售价值上升中获利。该项目由美国女演员兼制片人米拉·库尼斯 (Mila Kunis) 为 Orchard Farm Productions 制作的动画系列精心打造。
SEC 表示，SC2 将 NFT 配置为在二级销售中赚取 2.5% 的特许权使用费，并鼓励交易。随后，投资者在至少 10,000 笔二级市场交易中花费了超过 2000 万美元。但SEC 的法院命令得出结论，SC2 在未注册的情况下向公众提供加密资产，违反了证券法。
“指导确定什么是投资合同，进而确定什么是证券的是产品的经济现实，而不是你在其上贴上的标签或基础对象，”美国证券交易委员会执法部门主管 Gurbir Grewal表示。格雷瓦尔补充道：
SEC 的命令发现，Stoner Cats 推销其加密项目知识，吹捧其 NFT 的价格可能会上涨，并采取其他措施，让投资者相信他们可以通过在二级市场出售 NFT 来获利。
SEC 副执行主任卡罗琳·韦尔什汉斯 (Carolyn Welshhans) 表示，未经注册的 NFT 发行据称剥夺了投资者做出明智决定所需的重要信息。“Stoner Cats 希望获得向公众提供和销售证券的所有好处，但却忽视了这样做所带来的法律责任，”她说。
SC2 同意停止令、100 万美元的罚款、销毁其 NFT 并发布指控通知。罚款将用于补偿据报道因未注册发行而受到损害的投资者。然而，SC2 没有承认或否认 SEC 的调查结果。
SC2 案是在 SEC打击洛杉矶媒体公司 Impact Theory 发起的 NFT 项目之后发生的。该公司与 SEC 达成和解，同意销毁其持有的 NFT 并取消版税
SEC.gov Press Release
SEC Charges Creator of Stoner Cats Web Series for Unregistered Offering of NFTs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2023-178
Washington D.C., Sept. 13, 2023 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2) with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of purported non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that raised approximately $8 million from investors to finance an animated web series called Stoner Cats.
According to the SEC order, on July 27, 2021, SC2 offered and sold to investors more than 10,000 NFTs for approximately $800 each, selling out in 35 minutes. The order finds that both before and after Stoner Cats NFTs were sold to the public, SC2’s marketing campaign highlighted specific benefits of owning them, including the option for owners to resell their NFTs on the secondary market. In addition, the order finds that, as part of the marketing campaign, the SC2 team emphasized its expertise as Hollywood producers, its knowledge of crypto projects, and the well-known actors involved in the web series, leading investors to expect profits because a successful web series could cause the resale value of the Stoner Cats NFTs in the secondary market to rise. Further, the order finds that SC2 configured the Stoner Cats NFTs to provide SC2 a 2.5 percent royalty for each secondary market transaction in the NFTs and it encouraged individuals to buy and sell the NFTs, leading purchasers to spend more than $20 million in at least 10,000 transactions. According to the SEC’s order, SC2 violated the Securities Act of 1933 by offering and selling these crypto asset securities to the public in an unregistered offering that was not exempt from registration.
“Regardless of whether your offering involves beavers, chinchillas or animal-based NFTs, under the federal securities laws, it’s the economic reality of the offering – not the labels you put on it or the underlying objects – that guides the determination of what’s an investment contract and therefore a security,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Here, the SEC’s order finds that Stoner Cats marketed its knowledge of crypto projects, touted that the price of their NFTs could increase and took other steps that led investors to believe they would profit from selling the NFTs in the secondary market. It’s therefore hardly surprising, as the order finds, that Stoner Cats sold its entire supply of NFTs in just 35 minutes, generating proceeds of over $8 million, most of which were then resold – not held as collectibles — in the secondary market within months.”
“Registration of securities, including crypto asset securities, protects investors by providing them with disclosures so they can make informed investing decisions,” said Carolyn Welshhans, Associate Director of the SEC’s Home Office. “Stoner Cats wanted all the benefits of offering and selling a security to the public but ignored the legal responsibilities that come with doing so.”
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, SC2 agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a civil penalty of $1 million. The order establishes a Fair Fund to return monies that injured investors paid to purchase the NFTs. SC2 also agreed to destroy all NFTs in its possession or control and publish notice of the order on its website and social media channels.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by David Frisof, Brian Fitzsimons, Antony Richard Petrilla, and Brian Quinn of the Home Office, with assistance from Carmen Taveras Alam, Donald Battle, James Carlson, Will Connolly, Patrick Costello, Howard Kaplan, Joshua Mallet, and Yongping Zheng. The case was supervised by Ms. Welshhans, as well as by Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit Chief David Hirsch and Deputy Chief Jorge Tenreiro.
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