Dapper Labs 以 400 萬美元和解集體訴訟證券訴訟

和解仍須得到紐約法院的批准。

NFT Company Dapper Labs Settles Class Action Securities Suit for $4M

NFT 公司 Dapper Labs 以 400 萬美元和解集體訴訟證券訴訟

Non-fungible token (NFT) company Dapper Labs has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the company violated federal securities laws with its flagship product, NBA Top Shot Moments.

非同質代幣 (NFT) 公司 Dapper Labs 同意支付 400 萬美元來和解一項集體訴訟，該訴訟指控該公司的旗艦產品 NBA Top Shot Moments 違反了聯邦證券法。

The settlement, which still needs to be approved by a New York court, would end a nearly three-year legal battle between Dapper Labs and a group of investors.

和解協議仍需紐約法院批准，將結束 Dapper Labs 與一群投資者之間近三年的法律糾紛。

The plaintiffs in the suit claimed that Moments NFTs were unregistered securities because their value increased with the popularity of the project as a whole. They also alleged that Dapper Labs prevented investors from cashing out for “months on end” to keep value locked on the platform, and did not allow Moments to be bought or sold on outside NFT platforms at the time the suit was filed.

訴訟中的原告聲稱，Moments NFT 是未註冊的證券，因為它們的價值隨著整個計畫的受歡迎程度而增加。他們還聲稱，Dapper Labs 阻止投資者「連續幾個月」兌現，以將價值鎖定在平台上，並且在提起訴訟時不允許在外部 NFT 平台上買賣 Moments。

Dapper Labs' lawyers have maintained that their NFTs are not securities, arguing that they were essentially digital basketball cards in court filings.

Dapper Labs 的律師堅稱他們的 NFT 不是證券，並在法庭文件中辯稱它們本質上是數位籃球卡。

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, which was filed on Monday, the plaintiffs will be barred from claiming that their NFTs are securities, in exchange for an aggregate settlement fund of $4 million. The money will go towards payments to the class members, attorneys’ fees and settlement administrator costs, according to Dapper Labs co-founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou.

根據週一提交的和解協議條款，原告將被禁止聲稱其 NFT 是證券，以換取總計 400 萬美元的和解金。 Dapper Labs 聯合創辦人兼執行長 Roham Gharegozlou 表示，這筆資金將用於支付集體成員的費用、律師費和和解管理費用。

Dapper Labs also agreed to other business changes to settle the suit, according to a representative for the company. These include the implementation of mandatory employee training programs focused on “compliance with federal securities laws and ethical marketing practices” and increased payment and withdrawal speeds.

據該公司的一位代表稱，Dapper Labs 還同意進行其他業務變更以解決訴訟。其中包括實施強制性員工培訓計劃，重點是「遵守聯邦證券法和道德行銷實踐」以及提高付款和提款速度。

Additionally, Dapper Labs promised to relinquish any control over its remaining FLOW tokens to the Flow Foundation, a move that is meant to ensure the decentralization of the Flow ecosystem.

此外，Dapper Labs 承諾將對剩餘 FLOW 代幣的任何控制權放棄給 Flow 基金會，此舉旨在確保 Flow 生態系統的去中心化。

While the proposed settlement is between Dapper Labs and investors, not regulators, Gharegozlou told CoinDesk the agreement was a “great start” towards increased legal clarity on whether the company's NFTs can be classified as securities.

雖然擬議的和解協議是在Dapper Labs 和投資者之間而不是監管機構之間達成的，但Gharegozlou 告訴CoinDesk，該協議是一個“良好的開端”，有助於提高該公司NFT 是否可以歸類為證券的法律清晰度。

“We are continuing to push for more overarching regulatory clarity to showcase that consumer NFTs are not financial products and, as such, should be regulated under well-established consumer protection regimes at the state level,” Gharegozlou said. “This includes pushing for legislation at the federal level that makes it clear that consumer product NFTs, such as NBA Top Shot, are not subject to federal financial regulation.”

Gharegozlou 表示：“我們正在繼續推動更全面的監管透明度，以表明消費者 NFT 不是金融產品，因此應該在州一級完善的消費者保護制度下受到監管。” “這包括推動聯邦層面的立法，明確消費產品 NFT（例如 NBA Top Shot）不受聯邦金融監管。”

Gharegozlou added that the company is “not aware of any regulator” like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claiming that Moments NFTs are securities. In April, Fortune reported that the SEC had at one time launched an investigation into Dapper Labs but closed it in September 2023.

Gharegozlou 補充說，該公司「不知道有任何監管機構」如美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 聲稱 Moments NFT 是證券。今年 4 月，《財富》報導 SEC 曾一度對 Dapper Labs 發起調查，但於 2023 年 9 月結束。