SEC sues company for selling NFTs, claiming they qualify as securities; OnlyFans now has $ 20 million Ethereum; Ronaldinho may be arrested for crypto fraud
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles-based media and entertainment company for illegally selling cryptocurrency assets that the agency recognized as securities.
According to a press release issued by the SEC on Monday, the regulator accused Impact Theory of violating the registration provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 by offering and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) without registering or obtaining an exemption.
The SEC alleges that between October and December 2021, Impact Theory raised approximately $30 million from hundreds of investors, some in the US, by selling three types of NFTs called Founder’s Keys. The NFTs were supposed to provide access to exclusive content and benefits from Impact Theory, which claimed it was “trying to build the next Disney”.
The SEC alleges that Impact Theory marketed the NFTs as an investment opportunity, promising that investors would benefit from their purchases if the company were successful. The SEC argues that the NFTs meet the criteria of an investment contract and, therefore, securities under the Howey test, a legal framework used to determine whether an asset is a security.
The SEC’s order states that Impact Theory agreed to settle the charges and pay more than $6.1 million in disgorgement, interest, and penalties without admitting or denying the findings.
OnlyFans now has $ 20 million Ethereum!
Subscription platform OnlyFans, which has been on the World’s agenda for a long time, announced its crypto assets. The company reportedly purchased $ 20 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) in 2022.
OnlyFans’ roof company Fenix International made a financial application to the UK corporate registry on 24 August. According to the application, the company reported that it purchased approximately $19.9 million worth of ETH between 2021 and 2022. However, due to the general decline in crypto asset prices over the past year, the total value of Ethereum decreased by $8.5 million by the end of November 2022.
As of 30 November 2022, when ETH was worth $1,295 each, the total value of the company’s ETH holdings was $11.4 million.
According to the statement, the company’s revenue increased by 16.6 percent from $4.8 billion in 2021 to $5.6 billion in 2022. In addition, the adult entertainment platform achieved a 47 percent increase in the number of content creators and a 27 percent increase in total subscribers.
On the other hand, OnlyFans’ investment in Ethereum is not the first step the company has taken in the crypto industry. As it is known, the company allowed verified content creators to replace their profile pictures with Ethereum-based NFTs in February 2022.
In June 2022, two former OnlyFans executives launched a celebrity trading card platform called Zoop. Built on the Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, Zoop allowed users to trade 3D digital playing cards from their favorite creators.
Ronaldinho may be arrested for crypto fraud!
World-famous Brazilian football star Ronaldinho Gaúcho may be detained by authorities to testify as part of a crypto fraud investigation in the country.
According to reports in the country’s local press, Ronaldinho did not appear in court due to a pyramid scheme investigation allegedly linked to one of his companies.
Ronaldinho, star of teams such as Paris Saint-Germain, F.C Barcelona and AC Milan, reportedly ignored a subpoena for the second time on 24 August. The star footballer, who excused the unfavorable weather conditions, was given a final warning.
According to the statements made, Ronaldinho will have one last opportunity to testify on 31 August. It was reported that Ronaldinho faces the risk of arrest by the authorities if he does not come to testify.
As it is known, the investigation is related to Ronaldinho’s crypto initiative “18kRonaldinho”. The company allegedly promises its customers a daily return of over 2 per cent on their crypto investments. Ronaldinho also filed a lawsuit against the company, demanding more than $ 61 million in compensation for not returning these tr profits.
However, Ronaldinho’s legal team argued that the star footballer was another victim of the alleged fraud. The team claimed that Ronaldinho’s image and name were used.
