Fundraising Via NFTs Could Be Exempted From SEC Laws

Hester Pierce, the United States Securities and Exchange Commissioner renowned as “Crypto Mom,” continues pushing matters of crypto and non-fungible tokens within the crypto regulatory commission. In her latest push, the SEC commissioner advocated that crypto projects should be allowed to fund their work using NFTs as a fundraising mechanism. This move will increase NFT adoption among traditional businesses and institutions if she succeeds.

Hester Pierce Pushes More Crypto And NFT Agendas

On March 21, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held its first-ever roundtable meeting. This meeting, led by Acting SEC Chairperson Mark Uyeda, who assumed office following Gary Gensler’s resignation, and Hester Peirce, the SEC Crypto Task Force lead, was aimed to make several amendments and considerations into crypto and NFT regulations in the country.

🚨SCOOP: SEC commissioner Hester Peirce tells me NFTs could be the next crypto asset class the agency exempts from securities regs via a statement—specifically, types of NFTs used by companies to fundraise

Peirce mentioned Stoner Cats and Flyfish Club as the exact type of NFTs…

— Sander Lutz (@s_lutz95) March 21, 2025

In a recent exclusive interview with media, SEC commissioner Hester Peirce said that crypto startups that aspire to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a fundraising mechanism to fund their work should be exempted from securities regulations. This statement appears a few hours after the commission exempted meme coins and crypto mining projects using a proof-of-work consensus mechanism from falling under its definition of securities. Peirce explained:

“We could do it on NFTs as well. If we could provide some kind of framework or some kind of markers for [NFT issuers] to look to, I think it could be pretty helpful.”

The market for NFTs raised as much as $25 billion at the height of the mania in 2021, with enterprising crypto entrepreneurs using NFTs to raise billions for various ventures. Therefore, if the regulatory commission exempts NFTs used for rewards, fundraising, and memberships, as Hester Peirce indicates, there would be a huge green light for traditional businesses looking to dive deeper into the blockchain. This could even fuel another NFT bull run.

Fundraising Via NFTs

Stoner Cats, an animated non-fungible token project created by renowned actress Mila Kunis, is a perfect example of a crypto startup that successfully raised funds via NFT. In 2021, the company raised more than $8 million from the sales of NFTs to fund the show. The NFTs offered holders certain perks, including access to view the series, but were also tradable on secondary markets.

Launched in July 2021, the Stoner Cats was a non-fungible token collection featuring a limited set of 10,040 membership NFTs hosted on the Ethereum blockchain network. Each secondary NFT market transaction provided the Stoner Cats team with a 2.5% royalty, meaning that a percentage of each sale went to the team behind the project as revenue. At the time of writing, some NFTs have the best offer of 0.25 ETH.

In a similar sale, Flyfish Club, the world’s first member’s only private dining club, raised over $14 million via NFT sales to fund the restaurant’s construction. The NFTs, which offered holders membership to the restaurant, could be auctioned back on secondary markets with a similar royalty structure in place. Despite tenderly adopting the NFT technology, the crypto startup Stone Cats and Flyfish Club previously faced the wrath of the SEC, which accused them of trading unregulated securities.

Mila Kunis

In 2021 launched the NFT project Stoner Cats.

Offering the six-episode series to all NFT owners.

Price slowly went to zero, leading to a rug pull.

According to the SEC, the company raised $8 million from the sales as users bought Ethereum NFTs as tickets for the… pic.twitter.com/4uUE3XBxnv

— Xremlin (@0x_gremlin) June 2, 2024

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