Still confusion in the field of regulation in the USA: two artists have sued the SEC, drawing a comparison between their NFT Art sold on the secondary market and Taylor Swift concert tickets. 

Regulation: artists rebel against the SEC for the confusion regarding NFTs

Two artists sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA for the confusion regarding NFTs.

Specifically, the two plaintiff artists, Brian Frye and Jonathon Mann, have requested clarifications on security laws and Non-Fungible Tokens. 

In practice, their lawyers have asked if crypto artists are required to “register” their NFT art before selling it to the public. Not only that, another clarification concerns whether artists must disclose information about the “risks” of purchasing their art. 

The issue was raised after some actions could trigger US security laws when creating and selling art NFT.

The lawyers then made a comparison between the sale of NFT Art on the secondary market and Taylor Swift concert tickets, which are often also sold on the secondary market. 

In this sense, for Frye and Mann it would be absurd for the SEC to classify NFTs as security. 

NFT Regulation and the lawsuit against the SEC by crypto artists

Speaking of art, just like Taylor Swift sells tickets for concerts also on the secondary market and releases statements to promote those events, the two crypto artists should do the same with their NFTs. 

In both cases, the SEC of the USA is not required to intervene. 

Here is what the document states:

“Although Jonathan Mann and Brian Frye are different from Taylor Swift in many ways, in the context of this case they are in exactly the same position. They are artists and want to create and sell their digital art without the SEC investigating or suing them.”

The sector in crisis compared to the boom of 2021

Recently, the market of NFTs has been analyzed which seems to be still in deep crisis, at least compared to the boom of 2021. 

And indeed, in January 2021, the total monthly trading volumes of NFTs on the market had surpassed 100 million dollars for the first time. 

Not only that, in January 2022, a year later, the same had risen to over six billion dollars, recording a 60x. 

After this amazing growth, since 2023 a long bear-market has arrived which seems to be still ongoing. 

Starting from February 2, 2024, GameStop is closing its NFT marketplace, due to uncertainty about crypto regulation.

GameStop: uncertainty about crypto regulation leads to the closure of the NFT marketplace

In an announcement on the website of GameStop NFT, it is stated that the new decision to close the Non-Fungible Token marketplace is due to uncertainty about crypto regulation.

“Important update. GameStop has decided to close our NFT market due to the ongoing regulatory uncertainty in the cryptocurrency industry. Starting from February 2, 2024, customers will no longer be able to buy, sell, or create NFTs. Your NFTs are on the blockchain and will remain accessible and sellable through other platforms.”

In practice, starting from February 2, 2024, customers will no longer be able to buy, sell, and create NFTs on the GameStop marketplace. 

However, this does not mean that NFTs will be removed from the blockchains, and therefore customers will not have any negative impacts on their owned NFTs. 

The decision of the company based in the USA refers to the still uncertain regulatory regulation of the crypto space. 

The NFT marketplace for gaming by GameStop had opened its doors to the public last November 2022.

The platform was built using ImmutableX, after the partnership had raised a whopping $100 million investment.

GameStop NFT and the closure of wallets in August due to uncertainty about crypto regulation

GameStop had decided to discontinue its native crypto-wallet program last August 2023, due to the uncertainty of regulatory regulation in the crypto space.

In that case, the company’s iOS and Chrome wallet extensions had been withdrawn starting from November 1st.

In order to support its customers in their decision, GameStop had recommended them to ensure access to their “Secret PassPhrase”, so as not to lose their crypto.

With the current decision to also close the NFT marketplace, GameStop seems to be increasingly determined to shut down its activities related to the crypto world. 

Moreover, even his social account on X, GameStopNFT, seems to have been inactive since September 2023, even before closing the crypto-wallet program.

GME stocks have not been following the volatile crypto trend for a long time

There was a period when GameStop (GME) stocks were being observed, connecting them to the volatility typical of the crypto trend. 

It was January 2021, when GME stocks grew by almost 700% in a month, experiencing a volatility that doesn’t even happen to the price of Bitcoin (BTC) anymore.

The price of GME had seen a surge that on one of those days had seen the price rise from $76 to $147, gaining 93.4%. 

From that moment, however, the same GME actions have experienced a long decline. At the time of writing, GameStop shares are worth $14.75. 

News on regulation in China: Chinese commitment to the development of NFTs and decentralized applications (DApps) persists, despite the ban on cryptocurrency trading. 

The Chinese Ministry of Industry has announced its intention to draft strategic documents to promote the growth of NFTs and decentralized apps. Let’s see all the details below. 

China challenges regulation: NFT and DApp

As anticipated, China aims to promote the development of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized applications (DApps), demonstrating a strong commitment to blockchain technology, despite the recent negative regulation on cryptocurrencies.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced in a document published on Tuesday its intention to develop strategic documents to outline the development direction of web3.

The central government has emphasized that attention will be focused on key sectors, such as governance and industry, with explicit encouragement to explore new business models, such as NFT and decentralized applications.

The goal is to accelerate application innovation and build a digital ecosystem for Web 3.0. These statements were made in response to questions from Johnny Ng, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, the country’s top political advisory body.

The ministry has also announced plans to launch pilot projects related to distributed digital identity, with the aim of exploring new approaches for authentication and management of web3 digital identity.

This new push from the central government towards the development of web3 follows the efforts of various local governments, which at the beginning of this year committed themselves to the development of the metaverse industry.

For example, the province of Sichuan announced in August its goal of growing the metaverse industry to reach a market size of 250 billion yuan (35.1 billion dollars) by 2025. 

China, despite the ban on trading cryptocurrencies since September 2021, has maintained local NFT trading, which however falls into a regulatory gray area.

China RealDID: the decentralized identification system that redefines data protection

At the beginning of this month, the state-backed Blockchain-based Service Network China introduced the China RealDID, a nationwide decentralized identification system, in collaboration with the research institute of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

According to a statement shared with The Block, BSN described China RealDID as an extension of Anicert’s Cyber Trusted Identity, emphasizing that the launch of the system represents a “bold step in protecting personal data”. 

Through this system, users have the possibility to register or access commercial websites using their DID addresses and private keys, offering an advanced level of security and privacy.

As anticipated, despite the ban on cryptocurrencies, China’s technological advancements in the field of blockchain are remarkable. 

These are highlighted mainly by the introduction of the decentralized identifier with real name in the context of the Web3 domain, as observed by BSN, the developer of the Chinese national blockchain infrastructure.

The latest progress of AI in China 

The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) industry is growing, driven by companies seeking to increase productivity.

In 2018, Xinhua introduced the world’s first AI-based news anchor in the English language, Zhang Zhao, to reduce production costs and ensure continuous availability. 

Since then, generative artificial intelligence has recorded a significant increase, leading to the creation of translated podcasts, lip-syncing apps, and virtual influencers with a wide range of aspects. 

Another example is the virtual actress Lili Ziren, who has conquered the Chinese entertainment industry with her participation in the TV series “I Am Nobody”, produced by Tencent Animation and Comics and distributed on Youku. 

The extraordinary resemblance of Lili to a human artist has quickly attracted a growing fan base on all Chinese social media platforms.

In addition, the main technology giants in China, such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, have heavily invested in large-scale artificial intelligence models, expanding the scope of artificial intelligence in various sectors. 

The growing fascination for content generated by artificial intelligence is evident in online videos exploring the field of artificial intelligence and the emergence of digital avatars based on this technology in China.

Recent developments have seen the integration of artificial intelligence in the Chinese billion-dollar live streaming industry, allowing AI streamers to interact with users in real-time and even speak multiple languages. 

These digital clones are created with a single camera and five minutes of footage of the real person they emulate.