The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Consensys, alleging that its MetaMask wallet acted as an unregistered securities broker and that its staking services violated federal securities laws.
The lawsuit also targets Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) staking platforms Lido and Rocket Pool for their issuance of stETH (CRYPTO:STETH) and rETH (CRYPTO:RETH) tokens without registration.
MetaMask, widely used for Ethereum and other blockchains, offers direct asset swaps through its app, a feature central to the SEC's allegations.
The SEC claims Consensys facilitated over 36 million crypto transactions, including at least 5 million involving securities such as Polygon (CRYPTO:MATIC) and Mana (CRYPTO:MANA).
The SEC scrutinized MetaMask's staking feature, powered by Lido and Rocket Pool, arguing that the liquid staking tokens issued are investment contracts and thus unregistered securities.
This legal action follows recent regulatory moves targeting crypto entities like Kraken and Coinbase's staking services.