US SEC Commissioner Says Some Crypto Sales Can Be Illegal

US SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that some crypto sales can be seen as illegal if they involve a specific type of crypto assets, especially in some circumstances so let’s see what she had to say in our latest cryptocurrency news today.

During the 3^rd Security Token Summit back on Thursday, the US SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce shed more light on whether Non-fungible tokens are considered securities:

 “The whole concept of an NFT is [it’s] supposed to be non-fungible, so it’s supposed to be unlike anything else, which means that it’s, I think, in general, less likely to be a security, but people are being very creative in the types of NFTs they’re putting out there. It’s a wonder what some people will pay for. I think, given that creativity, as with anything else, you should be asking questions.”

NFTs have quite unique cryptographic attributes meaning that one blockchain can attest to the originality of digital assets and ownership including parcels, virtual lands, and artworks with and collectibles. With graphic artist Beeple selling his NFT art for more than $69 million, people are rushing in to join the booming market and now the crypto mom added that some practices could seem NFTs as unregistered security which will inevitably make the sales illegal:

 “If you’re doing something where you are saying, ‘I’m selling you this thing and I’m gonna build this, I’m gonna put a lot of effort into building something so that this thing that you are buying has a lot of value,’ that’s gonna raise the same kinds of questions that these ICOs have raised and so you’ve got to be very careful when you do something like that.”

She continued:

“You also have to be careful if you decide [to] take a bunch of these NFTs and put them in a basket and then break them up and sell for a fraction of the interest…

If they’re selling for $69 million, you might want to break them up and sell fractional interest and then you better be careful that you are not creating something that is an investment product, that’s a security.”

She also noted on one occasion, stressing the need for regulation that encourages both growths in new technology and also keeps criminals at bay. The conversation was organized by RealClearPolicy which is a conservative political news site, and there were three other panelists that participated.