What Happened on Feb. 23rd | After Stablecoin, NFT is also a security?

NBA Top Shot Moments NFTs meet the requirements to be considered a security, a federal judge said in a court filing on Wednesday. The decision, made by Judge Victor Marrero, is a narrow one that only applies to NBA Top Shot Moments and not other NFTs, which will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The lawsuit alleges that Dapper Labs, the issuer of NBA Top Shot, violated securities laws by selling the NFTs without proper registration and disclosure requirements. Marrero applied the Howey Test, citing the company's control over Top Shots and specific tweets promoting the NFTs.

Although the ruling is not a final decision in the lawsuit, this decision could have far reaching consequences with regards to how NFTs are marketed and resold as it may play a key role in determining if it is a security per the Howey Test.Biggest Gainers & Losers

Headlines

Coinbase Launches Layer 2 Network Base: Crypto exchange Coinbase launched Base, a testnet version of its new Ethereum layer 2 network, modeled on Ethereum's Goerli testnet and built using Optimism's OP Stack. Coinbase will also be joining Optimism as a core developer for the OP Stack. The existing suite of Coinbase developer tools will be integrated with Base.

Federal Judge Rules NBA Top Shot Moments NFTs Are Securities：The lawsuit alleges that Dapper Labs violated securities laws by selling the NFTs without proper registration and disclosure requirements. The Judge applied the Howey Test and recent case law around initial coin offerings to reach his decision, citing the company's control over Top Shots and specific tweets promoting the NFTs.

US SEC Objects Binance US' $1.02B Acquisition of Voyager Digital: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a file on February 22nd to object to the approval of Binance US' $1.02 billion acquisition of Voyager Digital, because it's investigating whether Voyager violated federal securities laws.

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Fundraising

Web3 Startup Here Not There Labs Closes $25.5 Million Series A Funding Round Led by a16z

Karatos Raised $20 million and Acquired a sub-DAO of Yield Guild Games DAO

Web3 MMORPG Game Worldwide Webb Raises $10 Million from Pantera Capital