SEC charges Impact Theory with unregistered securities offering in NFT format

Odaily Planet Daily News The SEC accused Los Angeles-based media and entertainment company Impact Theory of conducting unregistered crypto asset securities offerings in the form of NFT. Impact Theory raised approximately $30 million in the offering from hundreds of investors, including those across the United States. According to SEC filings, from October to December 2021, Impact Theory sold three levels of NFTs called Founder's Keys, which Impact Theory categorized as Legendary, Heroic, and Ruthless. Impact Theory encourages potential investors to purchase Founder's Keys as an investment in the business, the document said, and said investors would profit from the purchase if Impact Theory's efforts were successful. Beyond that, Impact Theory emphasized that it is "trying to build the next Disney" and that if successful, it would deliver "tremendous value" to the founder's anchor buyer. The order finds that NFTs offered and sold to investors are investment contracts and therefore securities. Accordingly, Impact Theory violated the federal securities laws by offering and selling these cryptoasset securities to the public in an unregistered manner that was not exempt from registration.