Opensea, the world leader in the NFT market, is going to the slot in front of the dry. On April 9, 2025, the platform sent a formal letter to Commissioner Hester Peirce to defend a clear point: NFT are not financial titles, and Opensea is neither a broker nor a scholarship.
NFT regulation: OPENSEA increases the tone against the dry
48 hours from the dry round table on Crypto regulation, Opensea strikes the point on the table. In an 8 -page document, the Marketplace's Legal Directorate recalls that NFT, mainly used as collectibles or digital works of art, are not acquired with an investment perspective, but for their artistic or cultural value. A position that joins the dissent expressed by Commissioner Peirce during the Stoner Cats affair.
However, the SEC has issued a “Wells Notice” against Opensea, suggesting that the platform would work as an exchange or an unregistered broker. A qualification that the company firmly refutes, based on the legal definition of a broker according to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which says:
The term “broker” means anyone exercising the activity to carry out transactions on securities on behalf of others.
This legally implies several elements, namely:
- Regularly carry out transactions on financial securities;
- Actively request investors;
- Receive remuneration based on transactions;
- Hold or manipulate customers' funds or assets;
- Give investment advice or recommendations.
Opensea precisely underlines that it does not hold the assets of its users, gives no investment advice, and does not execute any transaction: everything is done via smart contracts on the blockchain. Therefore, neither her nor the other similar platforms should be assimilated to the brokers.
Preserve innovation
Opensea goes further and request It is up to the dry to quickly publish clear guidelines excluding NFT marketplaces from current regulations on titles. She also invites us to use article 36 of the Exchange ACT to formalize an exemption.
The stake? Preserve innovation. According to Opensea, applying the regulation of securities to NFTs would amount to braking a still young sector, open, transparent and based on direct interaction between users.
Despite the collapse of the NFT market of 63 % in Q1 2025, this land remains extremely sensitive for regulators. But Opensea hopes that the dry will choose the option of common sense and balance rather than that of surregulation.
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