that it would \u201cvigorously pursue\u201d the lawsuit it had initially filed against the SEC. The crypto firm also remarked that they had fully expected\u201d the SEC to follow through with its threat of claiming that MetaMask had to be registered as a securities broker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFeatured image from CNBC, chart from TradingView<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has instituted a lawsuit against Metamask developer, Consensys. The Commission alleges that the crypto firm violated securities laws by acting as an unregistered securities broker. Related Reading: Chainlink (LINK) To Hit New Highs? Analysts Predict $25 Target SEC Accuses Consensys Of Violating Securities Laws Using Metamask According to the court document, the SEC claims that Consensys has acted \u201cas an unregistered broker of crypto asset securities through its MetaMask Swaps service\u201d since October 2020. The Commission also accused the crypto firm of engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of securities through crypto staking programs.\u00a0 The SEC stated that Consensys has brokered over 36 million crypto transactions since 2020 through its MetaMask Swaps, at least 5 million involving crypto asset securities. Metamask is known as one of the most widely used crypto wallets. In addition to storing their crypto assets on the application, users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies by swapping one crypto asset for the other.\u00a0 This \u2018Swap\u2019 service forms the focal point of the SEC\u2019s enforcement action. The SEC claims that some of these crypto assets are securities, and by enabling users to swap these securities, Consensys acted as an unregistered securities broker, thereby violating securities laws in the process.\u00a0 The SEC went further to list Polygon (MATIC), Decentraland (MANA), Chiliz (CHZ), The Sandbox (SAND), and Luna (LUNA) as the crypto securities that were made available for trading on Metamask\u2019s swap platform. Additionally, the SEC accused Consensys of performing a \u201ctraditional function of the securities market\u201d by offering and selling securities for Lido and Rocket Pool. The Commission claimed that the staking programs offered by Lido and Rocket Poo are investment contracts and that Consensys was in the wrong by offering these securities through unregistered transactions on its \u2018MetaMask Staking\u2019 platform.\u00a0 The Genesis Of The Legal Battle Between SEC And Consensys Interestingly, the SEC\u2019s lawsuit against Consensys comes just months after the crypto firm filed a lawsuit against the Commission, accusing the SEC of an \u201cunlawful seizure of authority.\u201d Consensys sought Judicial relief against a potential action from the SEC. They also asked the court to declare that Ethereum wasn\u2019t a security and that the SEC had no jurisdiction over crypto-related matters.\u00a0 The crypto firm looked to have won that battle, considering that the SEC dropped its investigation into Ethereum’s status as a security. However, in the letters informing Consensys about the Commission’s decision to drop its investigation into Ethereum, the SEC had warned the crypto firm that they could bring enforcement actions against them relating to other issues, which they have now done.\u00a0 Related Reading: Don\u2019t Sweat The Dip! Ethereum 15% Price Slump Could Spark Epic Comeback \u2014 Analyst Reacting to the SEC\u2019s lawsuit, Consensys stated that it would \u201cvigorously pursue\u201d the lawsuit it had initially filed against the SEC. The crypto firm also remarked that they had fully expected\u201d the SEC to follow through with its threat of claiming that MetaMask had to be registered as a securities broker.\u00a0 Featured image from CNBC, chart from TradingView<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":594,"featured_media":627036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[142,7162,6664,2718,15662,3799],"class_list":["post-627035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-altcoins","tag-consensys","tag-crypto","tag-lawsuit","tag-metamask","tag-sec"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
SEC Serves Fresh Lawsuit To Metamask Developer Consensys<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n