Sep 14, 2023

The Nft-funded animated series - Stoner Cat, - was co-created by Pixar vet Ash Brannon and fined Fin1M by the Sec.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered the creator of the NFT-backed animated series Stoner Cats to payド100 million to make an offer of unregistered crypto asset securities in the form of non-alternative tokens (nft).

What is Stoner Cats - Stoner Cats is an animated series about domestic cats that become perceptive after being exposed to medical marijuana. Between 2021/7 and 2022/12, 6 episodes and holiday specials were released online. To fund the production, the organizers created 10,420 NFTs and raisedド800 million by selling them. According to the SEC release, the token sold out in 35 minutes.

What did the SEC Say About the project - in the release, the SEC states that the LLC organizers charged the campaign, so investors "expect profits because the successful web series could increase the resale value of the Stoner Cat Nft in the secondary market.""During the investigation, the SEC also found that the nft was configured to return a 2.5% royalty to the LLC for each secondary market transaction, and the LLC increased royalty by buying and selling tokens to individuals, according to the SEC, the organizers violated the Securities Act of 1933 by offering and selling asset securities to the public in unregistered offering.

Gurbir S., Director of the SEC's executive Division."We have a lot of people who are interested in it," says Grewal.

Under Federal securities law, whether your offer includes a beaver, chinchilla, or animal-based Nft, it is the economic reality of the offer, and not the label or underlying object you attach to it, which guides the investment contract and therefore the security decision. Here, the SEC's order found that Stoner Cats sold their knowledge of crypto projects, advertised that the price of Nft could rise, and took other steps that led investors to believe they would benefit from selling Nft on the secondary market. It's hardly surprising, as the order found, that Stoner Cats sold the entire supply of nft in just 35 minutes and generated more than収益800 million in revenue.Most of them were resold on the secondary market within a few months.

Dissent - 5 out of 2 SEC commissioners who ruled the case, both Republicans, issued a joint statement saying the organization was stepping over. They argued:

Whether an artist is selling a numbered version of a physical print for fans to display on their walls or an Nft for fans to display on social media, she deserves clear guidance on whether and how securities laws apply. to. Artists of all kinds have long struggled to support themselves, and the Nft provides a potentially viable way for them to monetize their talent. The fact that money is involved does not turn Nft into securities.

How did the LLC respond – According to the SEC, Stoner Cats2LLC did not acknowledge or deny its findings, but agreed to a cease-fire order and agreed to payド100 million. The LLC also establishes a fund to return money to investors affected by the situation and destroys all Nfts related to the series that it owns or controls. Stoner Cats2LLC must also publish a public notice regarding the SEC's order.

People Involved in the production - The Stoner Cats include Chris Cartagena (Editor, Illumination Grinch), Sarah Cole (editor, Spider-Man: Spider-Verse), and Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated writer, director and producer Ash Brannon (editor, Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: Spider-Man: The film was written, written and directed by the author/co-executive producer of Arkane, co-director of Toy Story 2, and Director/co-writer of Surf's Up. The show was developed and produced by Mila Kunis's Orchard Farm Productions, and Kunis is listed on the Stoner Cats website as part of the "Production Team" and "Blockchain Team". Other producers include Lisa Stelbakov, Cami Curtis and Brendan MCNANY. The blockchain team also includes Maaria Bajwa, Morgan Beller and Lisa Sterbakov.

And on the creative side - the series had some serious animation firepower behind it. San Francisco・based animation studio Ghostbot by Brannon with character layouts and storyboards from Disney and Pixar vet Dan Zipp (Character Animators Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid) handled most of the production work.

The series boasts an a-list voice cast featuring Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock, Dax Shepard, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jane Fonda, Michael Buble and Vitalik Buterin as well as a glut of guest stars. The SEC claims that it targets groups that produce or trade digital assets and is sufficiently similar to stocks and bonds that the sec has to oversee as well.This is the 2nd time the sec has fined the NFT organization since it launched a crackdown on tokens. On May 8, the European Commission fined Los Angeles-based media company Impact Theoryし600 million for providing unregistered NFT.