Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Schnetzler, widely known in the NFT space as Luca Netz, stated that he remains unfazed by the recent actions taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the NFT industry.
On Aug. 28, NFT marketplace OpenSea revealed that it had received a Wells notice from the SEC. The company claimed that the SEC is alleging that NFTs on the trading platform may qualify as securities. Then, on Sept. 17, the SEC imposed a $750,000 fine on the restaurant Flyfish Club for offering NFTs.
As the SEC takes action against the industry, some argue that it is necessary to respond to these measures. However, Schnetzler dismisses the SEC’s actions as “nonsense.”
SEC’s NFT crackdown a “nothing burger”
In a Token2049 interview with Cointelegraph’s managing editor, Gareth Jenkinson, Schnetzler claimed that while there may be problems surrounding NFT issuance, the rest is just noise. “I think it’s a nothing burger,” he said.
Schnetzler added that if the SEC goes after OpenSea, they will have to go against many bigger organizations that have set foot in the NFT space. The Pudgy Penguins CEO said:
“For the space in general, I also don’t really care. I mean, if you’re going to go after OpenSea, you got to go after Sotheby’s, you got to go after Nike, you got to go after Pokemon. [...] I mean, this is just this is nonsense at this point, right?”
In a previous Cointelegraph interview, lawyer Oscar Franklin Tan explained that in certain conditions, NFTs could be considered securities. Tan said that in certain cases, some NFTs resemble investment products. However, the legal professional also said these are not the digital collectibles one would find on OpenSea.
Schnetzler echoed this sentiment. The executive believes that OpenSea is not selling on false promises. “OpenSea specifically, I think it’s in its own unique subsection where it’s like not selling people on a false promise or a dream. And so, for that reason, I’m not worried,” he explained.
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Pudgy Penguins CEO calls for user accountability
While government agencies like the SEC focus on investor protection, Schnetzler argued that, in the end, investors have to be accountable when they purchase digital assets like NFTs. He said:
“Ultimately, there has to be some sort of level of accountability in the space, right? Which is this idea that it’s like if you buy something, right? Whether you buy it at $100,000 or $1,000, like you are making that purchase, that is your conscious decision.”
The executive added that while people can misinterpret NFTs 100 different ways, at the end of the day, “they’re JPEGs.”
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