Brock Pierce on New Potential SEC Guidelines for NFTs

A recent petition to the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC) asked for some clarification around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), hoping to resolve any uncertainty the might hinder the juggernaut bullet train of NFT projects, art, collectibles, media, gaming, and so on barreling toward a bright future with a new form of digital ownership.The petition notes a securities law from the 1930s that could possibly “provide a crude mechanism for the regulation of NFTs.” The petition then refers to the SEC’s Howey guidance to address the issue of whether NFTs should be considered securities — which would cause all platforms selling and trading NFTs to be classified as exchanges or broker-dealers by the SEC.The petition suggests a compromise, suggesting that NFTs that relate to an existing asset “…should not be deemed a security.”That compromise would still bring some rain to the NFT parade. It would make platforms that include tokenization like Bitclout effectively unlicensed dealers of unregulated securities. It could also impact fractional ownership of real-world assets, such as ARTCEL’s recent share-based sale of a blue-chip art portfolio, which includes Banksy & Nina Chanel and will be exhibited in the HOFA gallery.The hype around NFTs has brought them mainstream awareness that rivals the mighty Bitcoin. Now we wait for the new SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who is reputed to have considerable understanding of blockchain and digital assets, to consider this request for regulatory clarification.Ex-Presidential candidate, entrepreneur, and star investor and promoter, Brock Pierce has an unparalleled track record in the crypto world, having raised more than $5 billion for the companies he has founded. He is currently Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of EOS Alliance, Block.one, Blockchain Capital, Tether, and Mastercoin (the first ICO).Pierce took some time to share his thoughts on NFT regulation in an exclusive interview with Benzinga.…