SEC Sues ConsenSys for Alleged Unregistered Securities Brokerage

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against ConsenSys, alleging the company's involvement in the unregistered sale and brokerage of securities through its MetaMask services.

According to the SEC, since 2016, ConsenSys has operated without necessary registrations, thereby circumventing crucial investor protections mandated by federal securities laws.

The lawsuit alleges that ConsenSys, through its MetaMask Swaps and MetaMask Staking platforms, transacted over 36 million transactions, some involving securities, without proper registration. This action allegedly generated over $250 million in fees for ConsenSys.

The SEC filing also details how ConsenSys marketed staking programs to Lido and Rocket Pool, and considers their stETH and rETH liquid staking tokens to be securities, as neither Lido nor Rocket Pool registered these offerings with the SEC. DRY.

Therefore, the US regulator claims that this lack of transparency and compliance deprived investors of necessary protections, which motivated the legal action against ConsenSys.

This is an evolving story: we will provide updates on the situation as we learn more.