Professional-Ethereum conglomerate Consensys has introduced a mass spherical of layoffs that its founder and CEO Joe Lubin has primarily blamed on the Securities and Trade Fee’s (SEC) “abuse of power” and “attacks.”
In a weblog submit asserting the 162 “right-size” job cuts — 19.5% of its 828 workers — Lubin additionally referred to as out Congress for its “inability to rectify” Consensys’ authorized woes.
The SEC is suing Consensys for a number of worthwhile enterprise items that allegedly violate US regulation. In its June 28 swimsuit, commissioners defined that Consensys’ Swaps function of its MetaMask software program acts as an unregistered dealer that results securities transactions on behalf of buyers. Furthermore, they are saying Consensys additionally offered unregistered securities by way of its MetaMask Staking.
Learn extra: SEC tries to increase crypto jurisdiction with Consensys lawsuit
For its half, the agency primarily argues that customers management MetaMask software program and don’t depend on Consensys for these transactions. The SEC has counterargued in detailed courtroom filings that the conglomerate’s suite of code, hosted companies, nodes, relayers, and human-directed selections not solely make MetaMask indispensable for a lot of customers but additionally reveal the corporate’s willful and worthwhile violations of regulation.
The principle lawsuit is ongoing within the US District Court docket for the Jap District of New York. The subsequent assembly is scheduled for November 20 to set a schedule for proof discovery.
Consensys has already misplaced one lawsuit in opposition to the SEC
Consensys has failed in lots of its makes an attempt to fend off SEC enforcement. Earlier this yr, it preemptively sued the SEC after it acquired a Wells Discover.
On September 19, a federal decide dismissed that try. Lubin had requested a Texan courtroom to rule that ETH transactions had been one way or the other not securities transactions as a result of they concerned ETH, prohibit the SEC from suing corporations for utilizing ETH, and bless its Ethereum-friendly MetaMask pockets. The decide declined all of Lubin’s requests.
Consensys beforehand laid off 100 of its then-900 employees in January 2023. In 2018, when the corporate had some 1,200 employees, a layoff affected roughly 600 employees.
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