Crypto trade heavyweights are lending their help to Consensys after the Ethereum large launched a preemptive strike towards the SEC on Thursday.
Consensys, the corporate behind the MetaMask crypto pockets, filed a lawsuit towards the SEC, alleging the regulator is attempting to “seize management over the way forward for cryptocurrency” and is overreaching in its makes an attempt to control Ethereum. (Disclosure: Consensys is considered one of 22 traders in Decrypt.) The corporate claims the SEC plans to control Ethereum as a safety—which, to this point, the regulator has but to state publicly.
“Thanks [to the founder of Consensys and the rest of the team] for combating again and defending our trade,” Uniswap founder and CEO tweeted yesterday. “We’re uninterested in the overreach and harassment.”
The SEC has an extended and contentious relationship with the crypto trade, submitting a number of lawsuits towards trade leaders similar to Binance, Kraken, Uniswap, and Coinbase. So this reversing of the tables was welcomed with open arms by figures within the area who took to Crypto Twitter to specific their delight.
Sue the Change Fee
Thanks @ethereumJoseph and @Consensys for combating again and defending our trade
We’re uninterested in the overreach and harassment https://t.co/yDTjjiaJWl pic.twitter.com/vtWxqKxv9n
— hayden.eth 🦄 (@haydenzadams) April 25, 2024
The SEC hit Uniswap with a Wells discover earlier this month, alleging the decentralized alternate had damaged securities legal guidelines. A Wells discover is a letter that the SEC sends to people or corporations to tell them it plans to take enforcement motion and file a lawsuit.
In its personal lawsuit towards the regulator, Consensys revealed that it too had acquired a Wells discover from the SEC after a years-long investigation into Ethereum, the community’s transition to proof of stake following the merge, and the Metamask crypto pockets, particularly.
Consensys’s preemptive lawsuit seeks to get a court docket to agree that Ethereum shouldn’t be a safety, thereby nullifying the SEC’s claims. It is a transfer others within the trade have tried not too long ago as nicely, together with Coinbase.
The San Francisco-based crypto alternate is at present tied up in authorized battles with the SEC relating to the alleged sale of unregistered securities. Within the wake of the Consensys announcement, Coinbase Chief Authorized Officer Paul Grewal took to Twitter to specific his ideas.
I do know ETH is a commodity. You realize ETH is a commodity. The CFTC is aware of ETH is a commodity. It is time for the SEC to confess that it nonetheless is aware of ETH is a commodity too. No extra video games. Thanks to @Consensys for standing up towards the SEC’s illegal growth of authority. https://t.co/8w7A4PBwUK
— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) April 25, 2024
“It is time for the SEC to confess that it nonetheless is aware of ETH is a commodity too. No extra video games.” Grewal stated, “Thanks to Consensys for standing up towards the SEC’s illegal growth of authority.”
Neither Binance nor Kraken—each nonetheless combating their very own SEC court docket battles—instantly responded to Decrypt’s request for remark.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.