In a statement, Consensys – developers of software wallet MetaMask and popular zkEVM ecosystem Linea – have confirmed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is closing its investigation into Ethereum 2.0, and whether sales of $ETH constituted securities transactions.
This is the latest news in a 3-month saga, which began with Consensys filing a lawsuit against the SEC alleging that if Ethereum would to be deemed a security, the SEC’s regulation would “jeopardize the United States’ ability to use Ethereum and similar blockchain technology.”
The announcement has been considered a big win by the web3 community at large, with Ethereum rising above $3,500 USD shortly after the news broke.
Why has the SEC dropped its Ethereum investigation?
In a thread on X, Consensys explained that after the approval of the first spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the U.S. SEC on May 23, they wrote a letter to the SEC on June 7, asking them to confirm that these approvals meant $ETH is viewed a commodity, rather than a security, and that the investigation would come to a close.
The U.S. SEC has seemingly confirmed to Consensys that this is indeed the case.
This is another boon for cryptocurrency as a whole, and sees back-to-back months of positive regulatory news for Ethereum – which has resulted in a notable surge of confidence in $ETH amongst both institutions and individual investors.
Have Consensys withdrawn their lawsuit against the SEC?
COO & founder of NFT Insider. Bullish on web3. Competitive soul.