Bored Ape Founders ‘Yuga Labs’ Are Reportedly Being Probed Over Securtites Violations

According to a report from Bloomberg, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Yuga Labs, the founders of the infamous Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, over whether sales of its digital assets violate federal law.

The report claims that the “SEC is examining whether certain non-fungible tokens from the Miami-based company are more akin to stocks and should follow the same disclosure rules.” The report failed to name the individual who made the claims as they asked to remain anonymous due to the probe being private.

Wall Street’s primary regulator is also examining the distribution of ApeCoin, the native token of the BAYC ecosystem, distributed earlier this year to all Bored Ape and Mutant Ape holders.

“It’s well-known that policymakers and regulators have sought to learn more about the novel world of Web3. We hope to partner with the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the burgeoning ecosystem,” Yuga Labs told Bloomberg in a statement. “As a leader in the space, Yuga is committed to fully cooperating with any inquiries along the way.”

The SEC hasn’t formally announced an investigation, so we will see if anything comes out of this report. What are your thoughts? Do you think NFTs should be considered securities? Let us know in the comments below. 👇🏽