Stoner Cats Taken Down on OpenSea, Rarible After SEC Probe, Sparking Controversy
Following SEC complaints, Stoner Cats NFT was prohibited from NFT marketplaces | Credit: Shutterstock
Key Takeaways
- Major NFT marketplaces have removed the Stoner Cats NFT project in response to SEC charges.
- Among marketplaces are , including OpenSea, Blur, and Rarible.
- Stoner Cats NFTs, initially sold in 2021, were previously available for trading across major NFT platforms.
- While OpenSea maintains the project page, trading for Stoner Cats NFTs is disabled, in line with OpenSea’s Community Standards.
- Rarible has hidden the Stoner Cats collection entirely.
The Stoner Cats NFT project is now barred from trading on well-known marketplaces such as OpenSea, Blur, and Rarible after last week’s disclosure that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had accused the inventors of selling securities that weren’t authorized.
Celebrity-backed Ethereum NFTs related to an animation series, initially sold in 2021, have seen trading activity on various exchanges. As of now, Rarible, OpenSea, and Blur have no active Stoner Cats NFT listings.
An OpenSea representative confirmed that Stoner Cats NFTs can’t be bought, sold, or transferred on their platform, despite the project page remaining.Ā OpenSea states on its Community Standards page that it prefers to maintain project pages up even after trading has been turned off because the website is also used as a blockchain explorer for NFTs.
The Stoner Cats team, Rarible, Blur and OpenSea did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Stoner Cats NFTs Continue Trading on Other Platforms
The NFTs still exist on the blockchain and in the holders’ wallets, even though Rare no longer lists them, and OpenSea no longer supports trading. Additionally, they are still available for sale on the websites that offer them; as of the time of writing, listings for Stoner Cats NFT are live on LooksRare and X2Y2 .
Mila Kunis, actress and co-creator of Stoner Cats, released the six-episode series through the sale of Ethereum NFTs by her company, Orchard Farm Productions.
Together with her husband Ashton Kutcher, actress Jane Fonda, “Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane, and even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Kunis portrayed one of the cats in the animated film.
Stoner Cats made almost $8 million on the initial sale of 10,420 NFT passes in July 2021. Per the SEC, developers earned over $20 million from subsequent secondary market transactions.
In response to allegations of selling unregistered securities, the authors settled with the SEC, agreeing to pay a $1 million civil penalty for a Fair Fund benefiting investors. Eligibility details are pending. The Stoner Cats creators also committed to disposing of any remaining NFTs.
Despite Regulatory Concerns, NFT Prices Soar
The SEC has charged Stoner Cats, a 2021 NFT-driven animated TV show, for selling unregistered securities. Despite these regulatory concerns, NFT collectors are buying them on secondary markets, causing prices to double. Since the SEC’s action on Wednesday, numerous Stoner Cats NFTs on Ethereum have sold on OpenSea.
After the SEC announcement, sales of Stoner Cats NFTs increased sharply, and prices followed suit. According to data from NFT Price Floor , prices recently peaked at 0.082 ETH ($131), early on Thursday, from a floor price of 0.019 ETH ($30), the cheapest listed NFT, last Wednesday. As of last week, users can still trade NFTs on OpenSea and Blur.
But since then, the price has significantly decreased as a result of the NFTs’ disappearance from important markets. The floor price is 0.055 ETH, growing by 48.37% at the time of writing.
