The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA has officially closed the investigation on Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. The agency continues to backtrack with the crypto sector.
The SEC closes the investigation against Yuga Labs of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA has officially closed its investigation into Yuga Labs, creator of the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
“After more than 3 years, the SEC has officially closed the investigation on Yuga Labs. This is a great victory for NFTs and for all creators who advance our ecosystem. NFTs are not securities.”
For the crypto company, with this setback after three years of investigation, the SEC would agree with the statement that “NFTs are not securities.”
The SEC and the halt to investigations on Yuga Labs: Bored Ape NFT and Ape Coin (APE) free
It was October 2022, when the US SEC had begun to officially investigate the company Yuga Labs.
Obviously, being the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYAC) NFT collection, the first issue on which the SEC’s investigation was based would seem to be precisely its product. Yuga Labs is also the owner of the well-known CryptoPunks.
In fact, it seems that the investigation aimed to determine whether Yuga Labs had violated federal law in terms of security, related only to NFTs.
The rumors at that time, however, did not rule out that the SEC might instead have targeted Yuga Labs for its ERC-20 token, ApeCoin (APE), still connected to the Bored Ape collection.
In any case, after three years, Yuga Labs and its tokens are free from any kind of investigation, thanks to the official dismissal.
The general backtracking in the crypto sector and the collapse of prices
With the closing of the investigation into Yuga Labs, the US SEC continues its retreat in the crypto sector.
In fact, recently, the SEC withdrew its charges against MetaMask, the crypto-exchange Gemini and the DEX Uniswap.
Not only that, in the specific sector of NFTs, the SEC has also decided to close its investigation on OpenSea, the famous marketplace.
A great victory for the entire crypto sector, from wallets to crypto-exchanges, but also for DeFi and for NFTs. And yet, despite this, the crypto market does not seem to react.
At the time of writing, the leader of crypto Bitcoin (BTC) is worth $83,606 and is in a dump of -8.8% in the last 24 hours.
In the case of Yuga Labs, ApeCoin (APE) is also in free fall. At the time of writing, APE is worth $0.55, in a dump of -12% compared to 24 hours ago.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2025/03/04/the-sec-closes-the-investigation-against-yuga-labs-the-bored-ape-yacht-club-nfts-are-safe/