If chair guinsler gets away with Misclassifying ether as a security it's Really catastrophic in the United States The SEC seeks to regulate eth as a Security and this affects you if you Hold ethereum because if ether is a Security then it can't be sold legally It can't be sold and it can't be bought In the US and ether is essential for Access to the ethereum network right I Mean you you need ether to transact now At the moment this is just alleged in Consensuses lawsuit against the SEC they Alleg a regulatory overreach we've sued The SEC in our home state of Texas um Which is actually where I'm joining you From now and because they saw what was Coming consensus filed a preemptive Lawsuit against the SEC in order to Prevent the SEC from seizing control of Ethereum to defend uh ether and the Ethereum network from Cher guinsler Unlawful power grab consensus being one Of the main developers of the ethereum Network they're the creators of metamask Etc and in this recent 902 clip of the Unchained podcast senior Council and Head of litigation and investigations at Consensus explains why they're fighting Back against the SEC now we've been Forced for years now to defend against Multiple secret SEC investigations and It's really time they saw the light of Day because these are important critical
Issues for you know our our industry in Our investigations the SEC wasn't only Targeting our product team metamask they Weren't only targeting our finance team Asking about our sales of ether they Were actually targeting our wonderful Ethereum developers um who you know People who are doing the important work Of innovating and improving uh the Ethereum network and that's really A Bridge Too Far um and if if chair Guinsler gets away with misclassifying Ether as a security it's really Catastrophic in the United States Because if ether is a security then it Can't be sold Legally it can't be sold and it can't be Bought in the US and ether is essential For access to the ethereum network right I mean you you need ether to transact so Um the end result of of the sec's Actions um uh seem to be moving toward Unplugging the ethereum network in the United States and that's you know just Something we can't stand for and it Seems that a big reason today that the SEC is now labeling eth a security is Because they're now proof of stake after The merge after eth 2.0 back in September of 2022 eth transitioned from The bits and pieces that the crypto Industry has been able to glean so far It seems that the sec's inquiries into Eth and the wells notice that consensus
Received are centered around this notion That eth is now a security because of Its transition from a proof of work Consensus mechanism uh to now proof of Stake and that the people who put up eth To stake it and uh receive yield back Are engaging in uh some kind of Investment contract now is ethereum a Security is ethereum staking an Investment contract this could be in Litigation for years but an even bigger Revelation is when consensus received a Wells notice from the SEC accused of Operating metamask the defi wallet Without a license claiming a self Custody wallet should operate under the Same rules as a broker so the wells Notice we've had three investigations um Of which consensus has been a Target um And two of them have culminated in the Wells notice uh that's the charges that Metamask swaps um on the one hand and Metamask staking on the other are acting As unregistered Securities Brokers Metamask staking is um uh essentially a Way of communicating with liquid staking Protocols Lio and Rocket pool um and the Sec's theory also is apparently that Lio And Rocket pool themselves are Unregistered Securities offerings and That somehow um through metamask staking Consensus is Distributing Securities Unregistered Securities um so the wells Notice is focused on uh two of the three
Investigations it it doesn't address or It didn't address the third Investigation ethereum 2 .0 and so one Thing the SEC is doing is preceding Peacemeal um which is really unfair and That's something else we're addressing By bringing our lawsuit in Texas we're You know these are all issues that the SEC has pushed to the Forefront when it Comes to consensus and we deserve um a Full and fair airing of all the issues At once and host Laura Shin brings up an Excellent point that not too long ago March 28th 2024 a US judge did determine That coinbase's self- custody crypto Wallet doesn't make it a broker because Basically judge faila said that the Coinbase wallet which is you know Probably quite similar to the minass Wallet does not act as a broker this was A significant setback for the SEC yet it Appears that Gary Gensler doesn't care What the US judge said they are not um They are not taking the guidance that Judge FAA gave and all her wisdom which Is that defi wallets that connect con Users to third party protocols that that Essentially allow users to communicate With those Protocols are not Brokers um They're still pursuing this Theory and And and you're right to draw that Connection because um judge fail is Ruling as to coinbase wallet you know It's a defi wallet should apply with
Equal force to metamask swaps and this Could be wrapped up in litigation for Years because consensus is not backing Down like coinbase they're fighting back And nobody has more money definitely Much more money than the SEC a Government agency but nobody has more Money in general than the successful Crypto companies consensus has hired the Same watch lawyers coinbase is using in Its battle against the SEC watchel is Widely regarded as one of the best Litigators in the world meaning they Certainly didn't cheap out and just hire The best law firm in the US these are The best lawyers in the world and what I Love about the is that it's continuing The trend of crypto not backing down Anymore like when we're done kind of Backing down we're done being bullied by The SEC as an industry we now are just Taking the fight to them ethereum Educator and founder of the daily guay On YouTube explains you know you have Consensus preemptively suing the SEC Here you have coinbase not rolling over At all over the SEC suing them basically Saying you know we're going to fight you For as long as it takes you have unisoft Labs doing the same you had obviously a While ago grayscale do the same with the SEC and ripple of course and a few Others out there but now the SEC has Just gone way too far right they've
They've basically gone to the point Where they've done that scorched Earth Approach that I've I've talked that Before where essentially everyone in Crypto now realizes that if the if keeps Doing this they're going to push all the Innovation out of the US absolutely Everything out of the US and they're Going to uh very much harm the US Economy in the grand scheme of things And also harm us people and again the Head of the SEC is always appointed by The current presidential Administration So there is a possibility if we get a New president maybe they'll appoint Somebody else but there is no guarantees That that next person won't feel a Similar way as Gary so that's not a Guarantee I am glad we are taking this To the sec's doorsteps step and fighting Back and all that's going to happen is That crypto is not going to die crypto Is not going anywhere but what's going To happen is that crypto is going to die In the US if they keep on this path if The Regulators uh keep on this path and They keep just screwing around people Are eventually going to give up and Basically say it's not worth it to stick Around but at this point in time we Haven't given up yet we're at the then They fight you stage and you know what We're fighting back we're not going to Lay down and get bullied anymore so
That's why I thought that this was Really bullish today not just for Ethereum but crypto generally I will Link both Anthony cesano and Laura Shin's podcasts down below if you're Invested in crypto be sure to subscribe You cannot afford to miss a daily update Touch the like button if you got value Today and like always see you tomorrow
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