SEC Ends 3-Year Probe Into Yuga Labs—What’s Next?

The company that created the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, Yuga Labs, is celebrating a significant court win. Without pursuing any enforcement measures, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally concluded its investigation into the company.

This decision brings an end to a probe that lasted more than three years and questioned whether Yuga Labs’ NFT sales and its ApeCoin (APE) token should be classified as securities.

The SEC Probe And Its Purpose

The SEC first launched its investigation into Yuga Labs in October 2022. At the time, regulators were looking into whether BAYC NFTs and ApeCoin fell under federal securities laws. The inquiry was part of a broader effort to determine how digital assets should be regulated in the US.

Yuga Labs maintained throughout the investigation that NFTs are not securities. On March 3, 2025, the company announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the SEC had officially closed its case, calling it “a huge win for NFTs and all creators pushing our ecosystem forward.”

After 3+ years, the SEC has officially closed its investigation into Yuga Labs.

This is a huge win for NFTs and all creators pushing our ecosystem forward. NFTs are not securities.

— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 3, 2025

A Long Wait For Clarity

Yuga Labs worked in the shadow of the SEC’s probe for over three years. The NFT space was tense due to the uncertainties around possible regulatory action. Many industry participants were concerned that a decision against Yuga Labs might result in more stringent guidelines for other NFT initiatives.

Now that the case has been dropped, some see it as a sign that regulators might be rethinking their approach to NFTs. Others believe this could simply be one of many steps before the SEC fully determines how it wants to handle digital collectibles.

How The NFT Market Reacted

The news was met with a positive response from the NFT community. Yuga Labs supporters and industry figures hailed the SEC’s decision as a sign that NFTs may not face the same regulatory scrutiny as some cryptocurrencies.

But it’s still not clear what the SEC will do with other NFT projects in the future. The investigation into this case is over, but that doesn’t mean that similar ones won’t happen again in the future. For now, Yuga Labs has come out on top.

What This Means For Crypto Regulation

The SEC’s decision to discontinue its investigation without filing charges may have an impact on how regulators view NFTs in the future. While this does not establish a legal precedent, it does suggest that the agency is willing to distinguish between different sorts of digital assets.

Some experts think this could be a turning point, while others warn that it will be a long time before regulations are clear. No matter what, the end of this probe is good for Yuga Labs and the NFT space as a whole.

Featured image from Gemini Imagen, chart from TradingView