NEW YORK—The creator of a marketplace for National Basketball Association Top Shot non-fungible tokens must face a lawsuit claiming that the tokens are securities, a U.S. judge ruled on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan rejected Dapper Labs Inc.’s bid to dismiss a proposed class action by purchasers of NBA Top Shot Moments, which are digital video clips of NBA game highlights.
The lawsuit said Dapper should have registered the NFTs as securities because their value was tied to the success of Dapper’s blockchain. It also said Dapper reaped hundreds of millions of dollars by preventing purchasers from “cashing out” for months on end….