- Court Ruling Against DapperLabs: A U.S. court ruled that using emojis relating to rocket ships, stock charts, and money bags could be classified as investment advice.
- Warning from Former SEC Branch Chief: Former SEC branch chief Lisa Braganca warned the public against using certain emojis in promotional materials following the ruling.
- Lawsuit Filed Against Dapper Labs: The lawsuit was filed against Dapper Labs and its CEO Roham Gharegozlou for allegedly violating securities laws by offering its NBA Top Shot Moments.
Ruling Against Emojis Used in Promotion Materials
A U.S. court ruled that using emojis relating to rocket ships, stock charts, and money bags could be classified as investment advice. This ruling was contained in a lawsuit filed against Dapper Labs and its CEO Roham Gharegozlou for allegedly violating securities laws by offering its NBA Top Shot Moments. Following the ruling, former SEC branch chief Lisa Braganca warned the public against using certain emojis in promotional materials.
NBA Top Shot Moments
NBA Top Shot Moments are non-fungible tokens (NFT) that capture key highlights and video clips from NBA games. The plaintiffs accused Dapper Labs of promoting NBA Shot Moments as investment opportunities, through its marketing materials with carefully selected emojis. The court filing referenced a tweet in which DapperLabs used the rocket ship, stock market, and money bags emoji to show market performance.
DapperLabs‘ Defense
Dapper Labs has argued that they were not attempting to promote sales but rather provide accuracy to market data with their use of emojis in their tweets. However this argument has been met with some criticism by members of the crypto community who argue that such a rule on emoji usage would impede freedom of speech as different people can interpret them differently.