US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigation into the non-fungible token (NFT) company Yuga Labs

In this week's newsletter, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigation into the non-fungible token (NFT) company Yuga Labs

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigation into the non-fungible token (NFT) company Yuga Labs, a company owned by US President Donald Trump filed trademarks for a metaverse and an NFT marketplace, and gambling platform DraftKings plans to settle its NFT lawsuit for $10 million. In other news, Hamster Kombat’s newly launched layer-2 network aims to support Web3 gaming.

Yuga Labs says SEc dropped its investigation into NFT firm

NFT firm Yuga Labs said the SEc dropped its investigation into the company. The NFT firm said in a post that after three years, the agency had finally closed its investigation into Yuga Labs.

The company said this was a win for NFTs and creators, pushing the ecosystem forward. “NFTs are not securities,” Yuga Labs added.

The regulator’s investigation began in October 2022 under the former SEc chair Gary Gensler. It was part of a wider probe into NFTs, creators and marketplaces to see whether NFT assets could be classified as securities.

The investigation saw the regulator issue several subpoenas to NFT firms, including Magic Eden and Blur. It also interviewed executives from OpenSea and Flow.

However, the agency closed the probe into Yuga Labs without taking any action. It is unclear why the regulator decided to drop the investigation.

The probe was part of the SEc’s broader scrutiny of the crypto industry. It recently sued Binance and Coinbase for allegedly operating as unregistered exchanges and selling unregistered securities.

Trump company files trademarks for branded metaverse, NFT marketplace

Trump-owned company DTTM Operations filed for several trademarks related to the president, including for a metaverse and an NFT marketplace. The filing, spotted by Law360, described a Trump-themed virtual world where users could shop for physical and virtual goods, dine in a restaurant and enjoy simulated luxury transports like limousines and aircraft.

The company also plans an NFT marketplace. However, the filing added a caveat that only content permitted by the president will be included.

The trademarks were filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office on February 23. They cover the word “TRUMP” in connection with several goods and services.

The filing also mentions social networking services, providing food and beverages in a restaurant, and organising games and entertainment.

The trademarks are still pending approval. If approved, they will grant the company exclusive rights to use the word “TRUMP” in connection with the covered goods and services.

The president has spoken about his interest in the metaverse and Web3 technologies on several occasions. In December 2023, Trump launched his own series of NFTs. The collection featured digital trading cards of the president.

DraftKings settles class-action lawsuit over NFT marketplace for $10M

Gambling platform DraftKings agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class-action lawsuit from its NFT buyers. On February 28, a federal court judge granted a preliminary settlement motion to settle all claims for $10 million.

The deal would split the funds between members of the class-action suit who bought NFTs from DraftKings's marketplace. If approved, the settlement would finally end the lawsuit, which started in 2023.

The lawsuit alleged that the company sold NFTs that were investment contracts covered by securities laws and were unregistered securities. It also claimed that DraftKings misled buyers about the value and scarcity of the NFTs.

The complaint focused on DraftKings's Series 1 NFT collection, which featured former NBA and NFL athletes. The lawsuit said that the company oversold the scarcity of the NFTs and guaranteed that they would increase in value.

Hamster Kombat says Season 2 is ‘more than a game’ amid layer-2 launch

Web3 game Hamster Kombat expanded its ecosystem by launching a layer-2 blockchain called the Hamster Network. The L2, based on The Open Network (TON), aims to support Web3 games and decentralized applications.

Announced on February 28, Hamster Kombat said the network would allow developers to launch games entirely onchain.

“We’re not talking about centralized games that store only specific pieces of data or NFTs onchain. We’re talking about games where the entire logic is placed within smart contracts and the game’s state is fully transparent and decentralized,” the team told Cointelegraph.

They added that they would be able to place their “entire logic” within smart contracts and move away from "centralized backends."

The game studio said it would launch Season 2 of Hamster Kombat on the L2. It aims to introduce new game modes and features, including a hamster racing minigame and a cooperative dungeon crawler.

The game's second season will also introduce a new storyline that continues the narrative from the first season. Hamster Kombat Season 1 was launched in August 2023 and has since been downloaded over 100,