This
morning,
OpenSea
said
it
had
received
a
Wells
Notice
from
the
Securities
Exchange
Commission
warning
the
agency
was
about
to
sue
the
leading
NFT
platform
for
violation
of
securities
laws.
The
threatened
action
is
the
latest
in
a
long
line
of
similar
moves
from
the
SEC,
and
the
reaction
from
the
crypto
industry
has
been
fierce
and
near-uniform.
Here
is
a
small,
representative
sample.
Tyler
Winklevoss,
founder
of
Winklevoss
Capital
Management
and
the
Gemini
exchange:
Sheila
Warren,
CEO
of
the
Crypto
Council,
a
trade
group
(GG
=
Gary
Gensler;
leading
an
“anti-crypto
army”
was
an
ambition
of
Gensler
ally
Senator
Elizabeth
Warren
(D-MA)):
Third,
we
have
Variant
Fund’s
Jake
Chervinsky,
arguing
that
NFTs
shouldn’t
be
covered
by
laws
invented
many
decades
earlier
(the
Securities
Act
was
passed
in
1933):
Next
up:
Gwart,
self-described
“crypto-Twitter
troll,”
discussing
the
wider
implications
of
the
SEC
apparently
going
after
the
very-expansive
NFT
category:
Bankless
co-founder
Ryan
Sean
Adams:
VC
Adam
Cochrane:
Ex-CFTC
Commissioner
Brian
Quintenz
(now
at
a16z):
Bitcoiner
Jameson
Lopp
arguing
that,
if
the
SEC’s
intent
is
to
protect
investors,
it’s
years
late:
Roham
Gharegozlou,
CEO
of
Dapper
Labs,
which
has
several
NFT
projects:
Rep.
Wiley
Nickel
(D-NC):
And
finally,
Anthony
Scaramucci,
who
says
Gensler
is
wrecking
recent
Democratic
efforts
to
make
allies
in
the
crypto
community:
Note:
The
views
expressed
in
this
column
are
those
of
the
author
and
do
not
necessarily
reflect
those
of
CoinDesk,
Inc.
or
its
owners
and
affiliates.