The popular NFT project CyberKongz announced Tuesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially closed its investigation into the collection, ending a years-long period of regulatory uncertainty for the firm.
Posting on social media platform X, CyberKongz shared the news with its community and hinted at a new chapter ahead. “As for CyberKongz, the shackles are lifted,” the team wrote. “We have been preparing for this day for a long time. A full rebrand and new direction for CyberKongz will be announced soon.”
The closure marks another notable instance of the SEC rolling back its crypto enforcement efforts under the current administration. Since President Donald Trump returned to office earlier this year, the regulatory agency has taken a more hands-off approach, concluding investigations into several major crypto entities including Coinbase, Kraken, Consensys, Uniswap, and OpenSea.
CyberKongz revealed last December that it had received a Wells Notice—a formal indication that SEC staff were considering recommending enforcement action. The NFT team said it had “been suffering in silence” since the initial contact from the agency two years ago.
At the heart of the SEC’s concerns was the integration of an ERC-20 token within a blockchain-based game, which regulators suggested may qualify as an unregistered security. CyberKongz said the enforcement team had expressed “very concerning rhetoric” around the pairing of tokens and gaming experiences.
The SEC declined to comment on the closure of the probe.
Under former Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC pursued a sweeping interpretation of securities law that encompassed many digital assets, triggering legal battles with several industry players. Many of those cases have now been shelved, reflecting a shifting regulatory stance under new leadership.
The SEC continues to examine the broader crypto landscape through its crypto task force, which held a second roundtable discussion last week. NFTs have remained a particular focus, with earlier enforcement actions brought against projects like Impact Theory and Stoner Cats 2 LLC for alleged unregistered offerings.
Meanwhile, NFT marketplace OpenSea has been pressing the agency to clarify whether platforms dealing in non-fungible tokens should be classified as exchanges or brokers under current federal laws—a question that remains unresolved.
For CyberKongz, the end of the SEC probe signals a long-awaited fresh start. The project now eyes a major rebrand as it looks to rebuild after two turbulent years in regulatory limbo.
