- The four U.S. states order a metaverse casino to stop sales of NFTs.
- The cease-and-desist order has the violation that the virtual casino failed to give a physical address, contact number and correct identity to NFT holders.
The Cease-and-Desist Order
A metaverse casino was struck on October 20, 2022 with a multistate emergency cease-and-desist order. In the middle of the violations alleged in the order are that “the virtual casino stops operating to provide a physical address, phone number and evidence to legitimize its promises of profits to NFT holders.”
The regulators in four states of the U.S. simultaneously filed emergency cease-and-desist orders this Thursday against a virtual casino, Slotie. The States law enforcement officials say Slotie’s owners were soliciting investors online to participate in an illegal gambling operation in the metaverse, a digital world where participants can interact with each other, purchase products and gamble.
The four states security board in Texas, Kentucky, New Jersey and Alabama combinely accused Slotie of defrauding investors and ordered it to immediately stop the sale of its Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, to retail investors.
The NFTs are blockchain-based digital assets that assign ownership of virtual art, music, or in this case, proprietorship of a metaverse casino to the holder of the NFT. As per the order, 10,0000 Slotie NFTs were sold to the public.
Slotie is based in the country of Georgia, and started working from October 2021, as per the order. While as per its official website, it mentioned that its NFTs as “are your ticket into the largest and fastest-growing online casino network on the blockchain.”
Even though the metaverse project was selling securitized NFTs, as the order stated it failed to offer purchasers with essential and important information such as the business address of the firm or its founders information, with the contact number or an email address.
The order further reports that the respondent failed to reveal its assets, liabilities, revenue and other financial information related to its operations of the metaverse casinos.
Joe Rotunda’s Statement
Furthermore, Joe Rotunda, the Texas State Securities Board Director, states while the metaverse does provide legitimate business opportunities, this also can provide a new forum for fraudsters waiting to scam the public.
Rotunda said in his statement that “The latest metaverse investment products — NFTs that purport to provide passive income — often bear significant undisclosed risks. These risks are often significant, and investing in virtual realities can leave investors virtually broke.”
In the response of the following order, Slotie needs to immediately cease and desist from selling to investors until the security is properly registered. And if the founders failed to follow the order, they are subject to a fine of up to $10,000. However, they also have 31-days to request a hearing on this issue.
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