The SEC has filed a lawsuit against Consensys, alleging that the firm has acted as an unregistered broker through its MetaMask swaps service and violated the law through its MetaMask staking service.
According to the complaint, Consensys engaged in the unregistered offer and sale of securities and collected over $250 million in fees through its staking service.
Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated that by conducting business as an unregistered broker, Consensys put itself in the US securities markets and deprived investors of legal protections.
The SEC continues to pursue enforcement actions against noncompliant actors in this space, as it does across the securities market.
