SEC warns of risks associated with NFTs, and Avanti Financial raises $37 million to launch an institutional crypto bank

SEC warns of risks associated with non-fungible tokens

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce believes that NFT in some cases can be considered securities. She approached the issuers of non-fungible tokens and asked them to be careful, as some creators of such assets may inadvertently distribute investment products, violating US law.

Peirce explained that the price of NFT can be quite significant, so issuers can start splitting tokens or selling baskets of NFT indices. So small investors will be able to enter this growing market, which will not escape the attention of regulators.

“You better be careful that you’re not creating something that’s an investment product — that is a security,” Peirce warned.

Avanti Financial raises $37 million to launch an institutional crypto bank

The Avanti Financial Group has announced that it has raised $37 million in a Series A for launching a digital asset bank.

Participants in the round are a who’s who of institutional investors including Coinbase Ventures, Binance.US, Morgan Creek Digital, Madison Paige Ventures, AP Capital, and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, University of Wyoming Foundation, in addition to individuals including Trace Mayer and some of Avanti’s executives and directors.

Avanti was founded in 2020 as a Wyoming bank engineered to serve as a regulatory compliant bridge between U.S. dollar payments systems and digital assets. The firm was the second crypto company to become a bank after Kraken Financial.

Founder and CEO of Avanti Financial, Caitlin Long, stated that the firm has received more than 2,500 inbound customer inquiries since announcing its bank charter approval and looks forward to starting to serve clients later this year.

“Our roadmap includes offering API-based U.S. dollar payment services for wires, ACH and SWIFT; issuance of our tokenized, programmable U.S. dollar called Avit; and custody and on-/off-ramp services for bitcoin and other digital assets,” Long said.