The Stoner Cats NFTs, associated with a cartoon including the voice talent of Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, were actually unregistered securities, the Securities and Exchange Commission said today. The company behind the NFTs, called Stoner Cats 2, paid $1 million in fines and agreed to destroy all of the NFTs in its possession without admitting guilt.
This is the second action the SEC has taken against NFTs, and unlike the last one, it may have broad consequences for the industry. Between the two cases, the SEC is “drawing a picture where all NFTs are within their jurisdiction,” says Hermine Wong, the former head of policy at Coinbase and a former SEC regulator. The order is likely to have a chilling effect on the industry, she says.
