Emojis now represent financial gains, will have legal consequences

SNEAK PEEK

  • A District Court judge has declared emojis like rocket ships, money bags and stock charts as an indication to monetary gains.
  • Former SEC branch chief warned users about the aftermath of using suchemojis.
  • Twitter users aren’t in favor of the decision and conveyed the same through reactions on Twitter.

Emojis such as the stock chart, rocket ship and money bags indicate a financial return on investment as ruled by the U.S. District Court judge. 

Lisa Braganca, former U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) branch chief, took to Twitter to warn users about the possible legal consequences of utilizing emojis that might hint at future profits. 

She also shared a court filing’s link wherein Victor Marrero, federal court judge, refused Dapper Labs’ proposal to reject the amended complaint accusing that security laws were violated by NBA Top Shot Moments. 

In the filing, the judge mentioned that certain tweets by the NBA Top Shot Twitter account include emojis that represent financial gains. Though none of the tweets mentioned the term ‘profit,’ emojis used like stock charts, rocket ships and money bags definitely mean a monetary ROI. 

NFT platform Enjin’s chief legal officer Oscar Franklin Tan commented on the matter. Tan said that the decision of Dapper Labs shouldn’t lead to a dangerous rule that emojis make non-fungible tokens securities. 

Tan said: 

Courts should protect the edgy, freewheeling messaging in NFT communities because shitposts and emojis are part of free speech too.

He further said that sneaker resellers can too rely on the fear of missing out pitch and utilize the mentioned emojis. 

The warning led to crypto community members reacting and tweeting their responses. For instance, one user called the news tragic, whereas another user mentioned that freedom of speech doesn’t extend to emojis anymore. 

A user declared the meanings of the emojis in the context of how he uses them. 

Lawyers too reacted to the decision of the judge to allow the lawsuit against Dapper Labs. Jake Chervinsky, U.S. attorney, mentioned that for a U.S. court to believe assets on private blockchains as securities would be illogical. 

Chervinsky said that this might transform every renowned video game developer, travel rewards program and ticketing platform into an SEC-regulated firm. 

Furthermore, SEC’s approach towards Terra also caught lawyers’ attention. Crypto lawyers, on February 17, tweeted their thoughts on the matter where the SEC accused Terra for selling a suite of crypto asset securities. 

Mike Selig, Web3 lawyer, said that under the theory, anything can be a security. Justin Browder, an attorney, called SEC actions wild.