SEC commissioner Hester Peirce is expecting growth in NFT use cases in 2022

SEC commissioner Hester Peirce says she's expecting an increase in the financialization of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2022, and that means holders will have to keep an eye on the ways their activity could run into securities laws.

In an interview with CoinDesk's First Mover on Thursday, Peirce delivered her 2022 outlook. Peirce said she anticipates additional use cases for NFTs as people figure out how they can further extract value from the tokens. As those use cases expand ownership and governance rights, Peirce said holders should look to see how those uses might dovetail with securities laws.

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"I think as people have learned, our definition of security is quite broad, and so people need to be thinking about potential places where NFTs might run into securities regulatory regime," she said. 

Where those intersections might occur have yet to be determined, according to Peirce. However, she has already written on the potential for fractionalization of NFTs to run up against the SEC's mandate. 

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Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.