The US Securities and Exchange Commission has sued cryptocurrency firm Consensys as it continues an industry-wide crackdown in an attempt to apply existing financial rules to the largely unregulated space.
The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn, New York federal court, alleges Fort Worth, Texas-based Consensys “engaged in the offer and sale of securities” through its crypto staking programmes, which allow users to lock up tokens for a certain period of time in exchange for a yield.
The company also “acted as an unregistered broker” through its digital asset wallet MetaMask, the SEC said in its court filing.
“Consensys violated the federal securities laws by failing to register as a broker and failing to register the offer and sale of certain securities,” the lawsuit alleges.
‘Unregistered broker’
The SEC added that 10-year-old Consensys has collected more than $250 million (£198m) in fees through “its conduct as an unregistered broker”.
The popular MetaMask self-custodial crypto wallet allows crypto owners to store their assets as well as buy,…
