cryptoslate.com
At least three non-fungible trading (NFT) marketplaces have restricted trading on the cartoon NFT collection Stoner Cats as of Sept. 18.
The project is the brainchild of actress Mila Kunis, who also voices a character in an animated web series that accompanies the NFT collection.
Each marketplace has taken a somewhat different approach to restricting Stoner Cats. OpenSea and Blur continue to display items in the collection, but each site prevents trading by hiding listings and offers under individual NFT pages.
An OpenSea spokesperson confirmed to CryptoSlate that Stoner Cats cannot be bought, sold, or transferred on the platform but said that the collection has not been delisted or removed. They also referred users to the company’s general policies.
Rarible, meanwhile, has hidden the Stoner Cats collection in its entirety. The site says that the collection “has been removed from the public view.” Rarible’s page assures users that they still own the items in question; like most NFTs, the items can be circulated freely on the blockchain or traded on other compatible marketplaces.
A separate report from Decrypt quotes Rarible as stating that it has blocked access to Stoner Cats “based on [its] market monitoring of recent events.”
Regulations and trading fluctuations are at play
Regulatory actions may be a direct or indirect factor behind each delisting. On Sept. 13, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Stoner Cats’ parent company with securities violations and announced a $1 million settlement.
Those actions also coincided with sudden trading fluctuations. According to DappRadar, daily trading Stoner Cats volumes surged from nearly zero to surpass $6,000 and $11,000 on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 before falling close to zero once again. Floor prices are currently $96, more than three times higher than in late August and early September.
Those unsustainable trends — rather than any perceived legal risk — may have motivated each marketplace to restrict trading. However, none of the marketplaces have provided full reasoning for their decision, and any causes are ultimately speculative.