A major crypto gaming operator is in the hot seat in Texas, where the Texas State Securities Board seems to be aggressively prosecuting Sand Vegas Casino Club for some of its NFT offerings.
David Attlee at Coindesk reports the state board sent the company a cease-and-desist letter for an issue reported April 13.
The controversy, Attlee writes, is around Sand Vegas’s Gambler and Golden Gambler NFTs, where the company allegedly ties purchase to future profits from casino gaming.
There are even significant values attached to these tokens, with Gambler tokens estimated to pay from $1,000 to $24,000, and Golden Gambler from $6,000 to $81,000.
The state security board says they’re trying to get around securities rules by “implementing illusory functions or using different terminology” – if that’s true, it will put the firm in dangerous place regarding securities law.
This will set the stage for the limitations of NFTs and their marketing in various online platforms.
The Texas board also seems to be following the game plan of the federal U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where head Gary Gensler has said that a lot of stablecoins and tokens would constitute unregistered securities.
“Gary Gensler did not mention any specific cryptocurrency or stablecoins,” wrote Ahtesham Anis at Coin Republic last July, reporting on Gensler’s comments to the American Bar Association at that time. “However, following the comments of the SEC chair, it seems that he is pointing to dollar-pegged cryptos like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC)….Following the scenario, the SEC chair cautioned that the agency would also look into enforcement actions. Moreover, he also has revealed that the authority has already brought some cases that involve some retail offerings of such securities.”
Stakeholders in crypto have pushed back, saying that rules and definitions are unclear.
What’s unfolding in Texas is just another illustration of how crypto regulation is much needed in the United States. Keep that in mind as you wade into various parts of the crypto world.