There are an awful lot of people taking a very close reading of the SDNY press release, which states it specifically charged Chastain “with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in Non-Fungible Tokens.” They notably describe NFTs as “digital assets” later in the release. Also, it’s worth reiterating that this is the DOJ — not the SEC — charging him, though it is the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force handling this case.
Now, why don’t crypto people want NFTs to be classified as securities? Well, there’s a lot of existing regulatory guidance there, and most feel it would basically upend the industry if NFTs were unilaterally subjected to securities law; it would certainly raise the barrier of entry for creation of NFTs and curtail a lot of the experimentation happening in the space right now.
Another big reason that it would be bad if NFTs are treated as securities is that it would mean an awful lot of people have been doing illegal things for an awfully long time.
Source: The arrest heard ’round the crypto world | TechCrunch
