News
US SEC Sues Blockchain Software Technology Firm Consensys
By Hannah Lang and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued cryptocurrency firm Consensys on Friday, alleging it failed to register as a broker through its MetaMask swap service.
Consensys also failed to register the offering and sale of certain securities through its cryptocurrency staking programs, which allow users to lock up tokens for a certain period of time in exchange for a yield, the SEC said.
The regulator alleged in its complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, that Consensys had collected more than $250 million in commissions through “its conduct as an unregistered broker.”
Consensys operates the popular self-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask, which allows cryptocurrency holders to store their assets, as well as buy, send, and trade tokens.
Consensys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In April, Consensys sued the SEC after the company said it had received formal notification from the agency that it intended to bring an enforcement action against the company. In the lawsuit, Consensys alleged that the SEC was attempting to “illegally regulate” ether, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, through enforcement actions.
Consensys said in a social media post on June 19 that it had received notification that the SEC had closed its investigation into the company. However, the company said it would continue its lawsuit seeking a court ruling that the SEC does not have the legal authority to regulate software interfaces built on the Ethereum blockchain.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Hannah Lang in New York)