SEC Charges Consensys Software for Unregistered Offers and Sales of Securities Through Its MetaMask Staking Service

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Consensys Software Inc. with engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of securities through a service it calls MetaMask Staking and with operating as an unregistered broker through MetaMask Staking and another service it calls MetaMask Swaps. According to the SEC’s complaint, since at least January 2023, Consensys has offered and sold tens of thousands of unregistered securities on behalf of liquid staking program providers Lido and Rocket Pool, who create and issue liquid staking tokens (called stETH and rETH) in exchange for staked assets. While staked tokens are generally locked up and cannot be traded or used while they are staked, liquid staking tokens, as the name implies, can be bought and sold freely.