The restaurant in New York, FlyFish Club, has agreed to pay a fine of $750,000 to settle with the SEC and its accusations regarding the sale of NFT. For the Securities and Exchange Commission of the USA, the NFTs were sold following an unregistered offering of crypto-securities. 

New York: the restaurant FlyFish Club and the 750,000$ fine from the SEC for the sale of its NFTs

Last Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the USA had accused the New York restaurant, FlyFish Club, of conducting an unregistered offering of crypto-securities in the form of NFTs.

In practice, it seems that through the sale of FlyFish NFT, the company raised about 14.8 million dollars from investors, to finance the construction and launch of a private restaurant for members.  

Specifically, the sale of the 1600 FlyFish NFT was carried out between August 2021 and May 2022. 

The ordinance highlighted that during this period, the Club promoted NFTs as investments and led investors to expect profits in return. In practice, for the SEC, FlyFish told investors that they could potentially make a profit if the club succeeded.

On one hand, the owners of the FlyFish NFT could have then resold them on the secondary market at higher prices, on the other hand, rented them to others interested in accessing the club as a “passive income strategy”.

With this marketing move, the SEC emphasizes that 42% of investors purchased more than one NFT in the offering, even though only one NFT was needed to become a member of the club. 

New York: the SEC and the fine to the restaurant for selling its FlyFish NFT 

After the accusation, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, FlyFish agreed to cease operations and pay the fine of $750,000. 

Not only that, the restaurant company has also agreed to destroy all Flyfish NFTs it has under its control in the next 10 days and to not accept future royalties from NFT sales. 

But the issue of the SEC and NFTs does not seem to end here. Last August, the one to be notified of being under investigation by the SEC was the NFT marketplace of OpenSea.

Even if not explicitly stated, it seems that the issue also appears to be related here to the possible accusations of offering unregistered security to the public. 

NFTs become “unregistered security” only if they are sold with the promise of making profits for those who buy them, derived solely from the activity of those who sell them. 

In any case, the co-founder and CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, said he was shocked by the accusations made by the SEC against creators and artists. Not only that, just as it happens with crypto companies, also for NFTs, Finzer says he is ready to react and fight. 

The artists sue the SEC

While the SEC fires accusations in the NFT sector, as it has always done in the crypto sector, last July two artists sued it. 

In practice, Brian Frye e Jonathan Mann have accused the SEC for the confusion that exists regarding NFTs. In fact, the two artists have asked for clarifications on the laws about securities and Non-Fungible Tokens.

Specifically, their lawyers asked if crypto artists are required to “register” their NFT art before selling it to the public. Another question then concerns the publication of information on the risks of purchasing their art. 

Not only, the lawyers then made a comparison between the sale of NFT Art on the secondary market and Taylor Swift concert tickets, which are often sold on the secondary market. 

In this sense, just like Taylor Swift sells tickets on the secondary market and releases statements to promote her events, the two artists should also be free to do the same with their NFT. 

The Giro d’Italia ended with Jai Hindley as the winner of the Trofeo Senza Fine. ItaliaNFT now brings the cycling competition onto the Blockchain: who will win the first trophy in its NFT format? 

Giro d’Italia: the competition is now for the Trofeo Senza Fine as an NFT

Presented for the first time ever during the awards ceremony in Verona, the new Trofeo Senza Fine in its NFT version is now ready to be awarded to its future winner. 

Specifically, the new Trofeo Senza Fine NFT is already up for auction on ItaliaNFT until 22 June 2022 and will allow its winner to also receive the four physical jerseys (pink, white, blue and cyclamen) autographed by the respective winners of the Giro d’Italia.  

This is an extraordinary 3D reproduction of the real model that replicates the exceptional design of the cup, a forged gold ribbon twisting upwards to symbolize the road travelled by the riders, and the meticulous reproduction of the palmares, with the “engraved” names of all the winners who have won the accolade since 1909, including Jai Hindley’s of course.

And indeed, while Jai Hindley has won the Corsa Rosa and its real Trofeo Senza Fine, the cycling competition now moves to the Blockchain, thanks to ItaliaNFT which, together with RCS Sport, has created the digital version of all the symbols of the event. 

ItaliaNFT and the race for the Trofeo Senza Fine NFT

Commenting on the new Trofeo Senza Fine NFT auctioned on the marketplace, Achille Minerva and Marco Capria, the founders of ItaliaNFT, said:

“The NFTs we have created in collaboration with the Giro d’Italia represent the best way to make culture around the world of crypto-art and, more generally, on the union between the creations of Made In Italy and the new digital ecosystem based on Blockchain. 

We will follow the race in all its stages, on the street as well as online, to tell fans what NFTs are, how they are made and what kind of opportunities they offer to those who buy them. We are just at the beginning of a real revolution that will have a profound impact not only on collectors but on all those who want to buy goods and services with a digital experience that is not only valuable but also reliable and secure”.

As a matter of fact, ItaliaNFT has also hosted other collections of Italian artistic excellences such as Lodola, Vedovamazzei, MYFO, and Andy of Bluvertigo, with the aim of creating new NFT collections in the coming months to highlight masterpieces of culture, cinema, literature, music and sport. 

Giro d’Italia logos and T-shirts drop on ItaliaNFT 

Overall, ItaliaNFT already offers the possibility to purchase the four t-shirts and other symbols of the Giro d’Italia event in its NFT format by accessing its marketplace. 

One celebrates a birthday. One sports the name of a wine. One will remind you of the obstacles you have faced. The other of how you overcame them. All 4 Giro d’Italia’s special jerseys are online.

Get them on ItaliaNFT: https://t.co/nE8RiN0je2@giroditalia #cryptogiro pic.twitter.com/NmRk5brv3J

— ItaliaNFT (@ItaliaNFT_art) May 26, 2022

“One celebrates a birthday. One sports the name of a wine. One will remind you of the obstacles you have faced. The other of how you overcame them. All 4 Giro d’Italia’s special jerseys are online. Get them on ItaliaNFT: https://bit.ly/ItaliaNFTxGCN“.

Not only that, in addition to the jerseys, ItaliaNFT recently added new Giro logo drops that come in four different rarity levels: 

• COMMON (40% of total): NFT only;
• RARE (30%): NFT plus complimentary white or light blue or cyclamen jersey;
• SUPER RARE (20%): NFT plus complimentary physical pink jersey;
• EPIC (10%): NFT plus complimentary physical pink jersey autographed by a past Giro d’Italia champion. 

Related posts
More from author