The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ethereum software provider ConsenSys, accusing its MetaMask service of acting as an unregistered broker, offering and selling securities. The SEC claims that MetaMask’s staking services, including Lido (LDO) and Rocket Pool (RPL), are unregistered securities schemes that violate securities laws. According to documents filed in the Eastern District of New York, the "MetaMask Swaps" feature enables investors to trade digital assets, ConsenSys collects fees from these transactions, and has facilitated more than 36 million crypto transactions in the past four years, at least 5 million of which involved " "Crypto Asset Securities" and said ConsenSys made $250 million from transaction fees.
The SEC has identified several cryptocurrencies, such as Polygon (MATIC), Mana (MANA), Chiliz (CHZ), Sandbox (SAND), and Luna (LUNA), as unregistered securities. The assets were also named in previous SEC proceedings, with some issuing entities challenging the classification. The lawsuit contends that ConsenSys, through MetaMask Swaps, not only acted as an unregistered broker, but also performed the traditional functions of a securities market, offering and selling securities. Specifically, the SEC alleges that ConsenSys, as an underwriter for Lido and Rocket Pool, participated in key aspects of the distribution of their securities and received more than $250 million in fees from those activities.
The lawsuit comes shortly after ConsenSys announced it was closing an SEC investigation related to Ethereum, according to a letter sent by the SEC on June 18. However, the SEC warned that enforcement actions may still be taken on other matters, although MetaMask was not mentioned in these letters. The current litigation highlights ongoing regulatory scrutiny in the crypto industry, particularly regarding the classification and regulation of digital assets and related services.
〈The U.S. SEC filed a lawsuit against ConsenSys, accusing its MetaMask of violating securities laws〉 This article was first published on "Blocker".