Ethereum Software Firm Consensys Says SEC Plans to End Lawsuit

Consensys, the Ethereum software firm behind popular wallet MetaMask, announced Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed in principle to seek a dismissal of its lawsuit against the firm. (Disclosure: Consensys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)

Joe Lubin, the firm's founder and CEO and also the co-founder of Ethereum itself, wrote on X Thursday that pending commissioner approval, the SEC said that it will file with the court to end the case.

"We were committed to fighting this suit until the bitter end but welcome this outcome," Lubin wrote. "No company wants to be the target of agency enforcement, but at the same time, it was our duty and honor to stand up for blockchain software developers in the hour it was most needed, as I’m sure our industry peers who also stood up against regulatory overreach would tell you."

The SEC declined comment when asked whether Lubin’s statements regarding the lawsuit were accurate.

Thursday's announcement comes following several other SEC moves over the last week to end investigations or lawsuits against crypto companies, including Coinbase, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, and OpenSea.

The SEC’s suit against Consensys, filed last summer, focused exclusively on MetaMask’s crypto staking features. At the time, the SEC claimed that by allowing MetaMask users to stake crypto tokens like Ethereum, Consensys was illegally offering unregistered securities and acting as an unregistered broker.

Earlier last year, the SEC also looked poised to sue Consensys over the security status of Ethereum itself. That potential issue—which would have constituted an existential battle for the crypto industry—was suddenly avoided, however, when the SEC abruptly moved to approve spot Ethereum ETFs just weeks later, effectively accepting ETH to be a non-security.

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Since January, when President Donald Trump retook the White House, the SEC has completely reversed its crypto-hostile policies. The agency has already established a digital assets task force, actively dialogued with industry leaders, and now, dismissed the bulk of its flashiest anti-crypto cases.

The SEC’s axing of its suit against Consensys rhymes with its other recent crypto case dismissals—in that it signals that secondary marketplaces and infrastructure providers will generally not find themselves in legal jeopardy should they facilitate the buying and selling of crypto assets.

The regulator has not yet, however, clarified if all manner of issuers of those assets themselves are yet in the clear.

Editor's note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.