OpenSea 的 NFT 问题：监管艺术与证券之间的模糊界限

OpenSea 定期下架或禁用不可替代代币（NFT），它们的行为可能类似于金融工具。它的目标是“任何承诺回报、拥有代币或可以以任何方式解释为证券的东西”。

OpenSea, one of the largest global marketplaces for NFTs, has taken actions that suggest it has been aware for years that some NFT collections listed on its site are more than just art, according to three former employees of OpenSea, as well as company documents seen by DL News.

OpenSea 是全球最大的 NFT 市场之一，据 OpenSea 的三名前员工以及所看到的公司文件称，OpenSea 已采取的行动表明，该公司多年来一直意识到其网站上列出的一些 NFT 藏品不仅仅是艺术品。由 DL 新闻报道。

Those actions include delisting or disabling non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, that may behave like financial instruments. It has targeted “anything which promised returns, had a token, or could be construed as a security in any way,” a person familiar with the practice told DL News.

这些行动包括下架或禁用不可替代代币（NFT），它们的行为可能类似于金融工具。一位知情人士告诉 DL News，它的目标是“任何承诺回报、拥有代币或可以以任何方式解释为证券的东西”。

The company also issued a vocabulary guide directing employees to avoid using financial terms such as “broker,” “shares,” “trading” or “exchange,” in their communications, according to one company document.

根据一份公司文件，该公司还发布了一份词汇指南，指导员工避免在沟通中使用“经纪人”、“股票”、“交易”或“交易所”等金融术语。

While crypto leaders may scoff at the idea that NFTs are securities and ridicule Gensler and the SEC, OpenSea’s longstanding efforts to weed out problematic collections complicates the narrative. Aware of potential problems, the company acted.

虽然加密货币领导者可能会嘲笑 NFT 是证券的观点，并嘲笑 Gensler 和 SEC，但 OpenSea 长期以来为清除有问题的集合所做的努力使情况变得更加复杂。意识到潜在的问题，该公司采取了行动。

A spokesperson for OpenSea declined to comment on questions sent by DL News for this article.

OpenSea 的发言人拒绝就 DL News 就本文提出的问题发表评论。

OpenSea’s tangle with the SEC comes as the venture struggles to recapture the mojo that drove the NFT space to such giddy heights in 2021. OpenSea’s revenue multiplied more than 18 times between the second and third quarter that year, to $167 million, according to an internal document.

OpenSea 与 SEC 的纠葛正值该公司努力重新夺回在 2021 年将 NFT 领域推向令人眼花缭乱的高度的魔力之际。据内部人士透露，当年第二季度至第三季度，OpenSea 的收入翻了 18 倍多，达到 1.67 亿美元。文档。

Now, as the popularity of Bored Ape Yacht Club and other NFTs wane, OpenSea’s monthly volume has plunged about 55% in the last 12 months, to $36 million, according to Dune Analytics.

现在，根据 Dune Analytics 的数据，随着 Bored Ape Yacht Club 和其他 NFT 的受欢迎程度下降，OpenSea 的月交易量在过去 12 个月中下降了约 55%，至 3600 万美元。

Through it all, OpenSea has laboured to screen the many NFT collections that have been listed on its platform.

自始至终，OpenSea 一直在努力筛选其平台上列出的许多 NFT 系列。

In October 2021, OpenSea disabled trading of a collection called DAO Turtles after finding the pixelated images of the shelled amphibians violated its terms of service, according to social media posts by DAO Turtles.

根据 DAO Turtles 的社交媒体帖子，2021 年 10 月，OpenSea 发现带壳两栖动物的像素化图像违反了其服务条款，禁止了名为 DAO Turtles 的收藏品的交易。

That meant visitors to OpenSea could still see the NFTs, but they couldn’t buy or sell them.

这意味着 OpenSea 的访问者仍然可以看到 NFT，但他们无法购买或出售它们。

OpenSea told DAO Turtles’ team that NFT collections could not use the platform to carry out financial services such as ”listing, or buying securities” and similar instruments, or fundraising, according to a screenshot of an email.

根据一封电子邮件的屏幕截图，OpenSea 告诉 DAO Turtles 团队，NFT 集合不能使用该平台进行“上市或购买证券”和类似工具或筹款等金融服务。

While OpenSea did not provide any details on precisely why DAO Turtles raised a red flag, the NFTs were more than images on a blockchain.

虽然 OpenSea 没有提供任何细节说明 DAO Turtles 发出危险信号的确切原因，但 NFT 不仅仅是区块链上的图像。

Owners could collect royalties from future releases, and receive an associated cryptocurrency called Turtleshells, according to an archived version of the project’s website.

根据该项目网站的存档版本，所有者可以从未来的版本中收取版税，并获得一种名为 Turtleshells 的相关加密货币。

Other collections OpenSea delisted or disabled on its site for violating the prohibition on financial assets include Steady Stack, and Yaypegs, said a former employee.

一位前员工表示，OpenSea 因违反金融资产禁令而在其网站上摘牌或禁用的其他集合包括 Steady Stack 和 Yaypegs。

The teams behind DAO Turtles and Yaypegs did not respond to requests for comment. A representative for Steady Stack could not confirm why the collection was delisted.

DAO Turtles 和 Yaypegs 背后的团队没有回应置评请求。 Steady Stack 的代表无法确认该系列被下架的原因。

From the get-go, OpenSea addressed the financial capabilities of NFTs in its terms of service.

OpenSea 从一开始就在其服务条款中解决了 NFT 的财务能力问题。

“WE ARE NOT A BROKER, FINANCIAL INSTITUTION, OR CREDITOR,” reads the earliest archived copy of its terms of service from August 2018, which was printed in all caps to hammer the point home.

“我们不是经纪人、金融机构或债权人”，其 2018 年 8 月的服务条款最早存档副本如此写道，该副本全部大写，以强调这一点。

Two years later, in October 2020, OpenSea added clauses that prohibited users from “any financial activities subject to registration or licensing, including but not limited to creating, listing, or buying securities, commodities, options, real estate, or debt instruments.”

两年后，即 2020 年 10 月，OpenSea 添加了条款，禁止用户“进行任何需要注册或许可的金融活动，包括但不限于创建、上市或购买证券、商品、期权、房地产或债务工具”。

The marketplace also barred any assets “that are redeemable for financial instruments or that give owners rights to participate in an ICO or any securities offering.”

该市场还禁止任何“可兑换为金融工具或赋予所有者参与 ICO 或任何证券发行权利的资产”。

ICO is an acronym for an initial coin offering, a token distribution practice the SEC targeted around 2018.

ICO 是 ICO 的缩写，是 SEC 计划在 2018 年左右进行的代币发行实践。

In 2022, the SEC began to send OpenSea information requests, The Verge reported in August. As part of that process, the company received a Wells notice, which is a notification the agency sends to the target of a potential enforcement action. Finzer said in August that OpenSea received the notice “recently.”

据 The Verge 8 月份报道，2022 年 SEC 开始发送 OpenSea 信息请求。作为该过程的一部分，该公司收到了 Wells 通知，这是该机构向潜在执法行动目标发送的通知。 Finzer 在 8 月份表示，OpenSea “最近”收到了通知。

If the SEC sues OpenSea, it would have to show that certain NFT collections the company listed are unregistered securities, said Philip Moustakis, a New York-based securities lawyer at Seward & Kissel.

Seward & Kissel 驻纽约证券律师 Philip Moustakis 表示，如果 SEC 起诉 OpenSea，则必须证明该公司列出的某些 NFT 集合是未注册的证券。

“Can you use an NFT to make a securities offering? Absolutely,” he told DL News.

“你可以使用 NFT 来发行证券吗？当然，”他告诉DL新闻。

Moustakis added that it’s not about the technology, but rather the offering, or the initial sale of objects, which can be pieces of paper, computer code, or even citrus groves.

穆斯塔基斯补充说，这与技术无关，而是与产品或物品的初始销售有关，这些物品可以是纸张、计算机代码，甚至是柑橘园。

Generally, the SEC follows legal guidance that an asset is a security if purchasers have a “reasonable expectation of profit from others.”

一般来说，美国证券交易委员会遵循的法律指导意见是，如果购买者“对从他人那里获得利润有合理的预期”，则资产就是证券。

On September 19, users sued OpenSea for allegedly offering NFTs that behaved like financial instruments.

9 月 19 日，用户起诉 OpenSea 涉嫌提供行为类似于金融工具的 NFT。

“NFTs are treated like securities by OpenSea despite being unregistered with the SEC,” said the complaint, which is being managed by Adam Moskowitz,

该投诉称：“尽管 NFT 未在 SEC 注册，但 OpenSea 仍将其视为证券”，该投诉由 Adam Moskowitz 负责管理。