Animoca Brands to Reduce US Presence Due to SEC Action
Date: 2023-06-09 Categories: BLOCKCHAIN
The head of the company, Yat Siu, said that the United States preferred a “hostile” approach to blockchain. The company has already “started taking steps to focus more on other markets.”
“Animoca Brands is not concentrated in one territory, but operates all over the world. The SEC is focused on the US, so this should not affect our presence in other markets where SAND is widely available and accepted, including more progressive jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and Japan,” Siu added.
The regulator’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase say that the native token of the metaverse The Sandbox, which is being developed by Animoca, allegedly raised $3 million through private sales on exchanges.
According to the SEC, the holders of the asset were forced to "prudently view SAND as an investment and expect to profit from [the company's] development efforts" of the project.
According to Padraig Walsh, a partner at law firm Tanner De Witt, the regulator's accusations seriously increase the legal risk for firms in the US. However, he noted that the proceedings could take several years, so "great uncertainty" will provoke the flight of many companies.
Even before the lawsuits began, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that many crypto firms could leave the US “for more progressive jurisdictions” if local regulators continue unreasonable prosecution. In his opinion, Europe, the UAE, the UK and Singapore offer more regulatory clarity for digital assets.
