Recently, Stuart Alderoty, chief legal officer at Ripple, took to social media platform X to comment on the litigation brought by Consensys against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Alderoty recalled one of his 2022 statements, mentioning that it has “aged well,” as he criticized the SEC's approach to regulating cryptocurrencies, in particular Ethereum, labeling the regulator's expansion of jurisdiction as a significant problem.
Consensys, known for its support of Ethereum, has reportedly accused the SEC of stifling developers and market participants with a stance seen as hostile. The company argues that such an attitude on the part of SEC prevents innovative advances in the sector. In May 2022, Alderoty expressed concern about the SEC's tendency to classify almost all tokens, with the exception of Bitcoin, as securities, describing this practice as “a combination of bad law and bad policy.”
We all agree that consumer and market protections are needed. But saying that every token besides BTC (maybe) is a security is a combination of bad law and bad policy all in the name of the SEC's political land grab over this asset class. The SEC's jurisdiction is not limitless. https://t.co/PdBtltgsxG
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) May 24, 2022
The situation worsened when, in April, the SEC sent a “Poços Notice” to Consensys, indicating the possibility of enforcement action and pointing out that the popular Metamask wallet could be operating as an unregistered broker, which would violate security laws. mobile values. In response, Consensys hired Watchtell's renowned team of lawyers, following a similar path to Coinbase, to take on the regulator.
Interestingly, Consensys leader Joseph Lubin previously stated that he considered the SEC as an ally, stating: “I think they really understand this space well… We believe they understand… They consider the Ethereum network token and issuance mechanism to be decentralized and , therefore, no transaction involving these specific assets is considered a securities transaction.”
This dispute between Consensys and the SEC is yet another chapter in the growing debate over the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the United States, which involves complex legal issues and implications for the future of technological and financial development in an increasingly digitalized global environment.
