Following a controversial decision from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), several prominent marketplaces, including OpenSea, have ceased all trading of Stoner Cats NFTs. This has resulted in bringing the centralized nature of such platforms into stark relief.
Just last week, the SEC shook the Stoner Cats community by dubbing the collection a ‘security’ and ordering it to pay a $1 million ‘fine.’ Since then, however, things have gone a little more awry as several major marketplaces have ceased all trading activity for the collection in the wake of the decision.
As of writing, both Blur and OpenSea maintain an online presence for the Stoner Cats, but have disabled the ability to transact with the collection. While, Rarible has gone full-whack, and removed it entirely from its marketplace. Despite this, not all platforms have taken the same avenue, with the likes of LooksRare and X2Y2 still openly trading Stoner Cats NFTs.
provenance is undeniable.
— OpenSea (@opensea) September 12, 2023
Questions Arise Surrounding Centralization
The latest moves from OpenSea, Rarible, and Blur has highlighted the centralized nature of these platforms. In that a governing overlord can restrict transaction activity for any collection at moment’s notice. However, there does remain a potential of circumventing these restrictions by wrapping the tokens and trading them under the radar.
Having said that, as the Stoner Cats NFTs inhabit the Ethereum network, they remain immutably tied to the blockchain in-perpetuity. So, while centralized entities can put the brakes on trading, owners can still send and receive the tokens via the P2P network, and nobody can do a thing about it!
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