The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Yuga Labs Inc., the firm behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection of NFTs, over whether sales of NFTs violate federal law, Bloomberg has learned.
The financial watchdog wants to find out if the firm's NFTs work similar to stocks and should have followed the same rules, a person close to the matter told Bloomberg. Besides NFTs, the SEC is reportedly also examining the distribution of apecoin (APE), digital tokens airdropped between BAYC's holders.
A spokesperson for Yuga Labs told Bloomberg that the firm hopes to "partner with the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the burgeoning ecosystem." Officially, the SEC made no public accusation against Yuga Labs on the matter. After the news broke, the price of APE lost 9%, falling down to $4.76.
