The SEC is back in its crosshairs, this time setting its sights on Immutable. The U.S. regulator just handed the Ethereum-based gaming outlier a Wells notice, casting shadows over the company’s IMX token. News of this surfaced after Immutable’s spokesperson dropped the bomb Thursday, also confirming the SEC’s letter accusing CEO James Ferguson and Digital Worlds Foundation of securities violations.
Allegations on 2021 Token Sale Set Tone for Tussle
Immutable suspects the SEC’s hook revolves around IMX sales from 2021. According to the company, that was the year it quickly locked in $12.5 million from the IMX launch on CoinList. The SEC, however, claims there were “misrepresentations” lurking, saying Immutable hyped a supposed “pre-launch investment” from Huobi Ventures, which never materialized. Immutable’s stance? “Despite the SEC indiscriminately claiming that tokens across the industry are securities, we are confident the IMX token is not,” said the spokesperson.
This early sale stirred up strong demand among retail crypto bettors on CoinList, yet the SEC now says Immutable may have painted a bit too rosy a picture. The Wells notice itself? It contained the usual boilerplate—“statutory provisions” with little meat on the bone, Immutable added.
SEC Shifts Crosshairs: Crypto Gaming Now in the Mix
While crypto players have felt the SEC’s heat before, Immutable’s notice might mark a new chapter, dragging gaming tokens under regulatory scrutiny. Immutable’s spokesperson sees this as serious overreach, asserting that “with this latest move against Immutable, the SEC’s overreach has expanded into gaming.” And all of this comes just weeks before the U.S. election, where the SEC’s leadership could face an overhaul. Perhaps not a coincidence?
The IMX token, built on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, oils the gears on Immutable’s layer-2 networks—Immutable X and Immutable zkEVM. These platforms aim to accelerate transactions while cutting fees. IMX also plays into staking and platform governance, giving token holders a stake in decisions like developer grants. With a $2.1 billion market cap, IMX has become one of the largest gaming tokens tracked on CoinGecko, powering blockchain games like Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians.
Immutable Assembles Its Arsenal
The SEC showdown may be looming, but Immutable’s loaded and locked for defense. The company claims it’s sitting on “nine figures in cash and equivalents,” with nearly $300 million raised in equity rounds from backers like Coinbase Ventures and Animoca Brands. Immutable has watched as the SEC ramped up its crypto crusade, even roping in big-league players like Coinbase, Binance, and OpenSea.
As Immutable preps its war chest, the gaming firm seems primed to battle the SEC’s push into gaming tokens, ready to argue that the IMX token, despite the heat, is fit for the decentralized future it’s helping to build.
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