A Week of Highs and Lows for SEC Chair Gary Gensler

A Week of Highs and Lows for SEC Chair Gary Gensler

This past week saw significant legal activity involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On Thursday, Coinbase took legal action against both the SEC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) over their handling of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Just a day later, the SEC filed a lawsuit against ConsenSys, the company behind MetaMask, over $250 million in fees it allegedly collected. In other legal news, YouTuber Logan Paul sued fellow creator CoffeeZilla for defamation regarding coverage of Paul’s CryptoZoo project.

Legal Battles in the Crypto World

The SEC has accused ConsenSys of offering unregistered securities through its MetaMask Swaps and staking services. Opinions are divided on the strength of the SEC’s case, with some experts suggesting it may be weak based on prior legal actions involving Coinbase.

Coinbase, on its part, is suing the SEC and FDIC, claiming insufficient response to FOIA requests. The lawsuit aims to determine whether these agencies have been coordinating efforts to undermine the crypto industry.

In another high-profile case, Logan Paul has filed a defamation lawsuit against CoffeeZilla (Stephen Findeisen). CoffeeZilla had criticized Paul’s CryptoZoo NFT project, alleging it was fraudulent. Paul, however, denies these claims and blames the project’s advisor and developer instead.

Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to reverse the “Chevron” doctrine is seen as a potential win for the crypto industry. This follows a mixed verdict in the SEC’s case against Binance, further fueling optimism among industry pundits.

Wall Street and Venture Capital

The crypto market is abuzz with Wall Street’s growing interest in Solana ETFs. Following successful approvals for Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, VanEck has filed for a Solana ETF, describing the token as a commodity. 21Shares has also submitted its own filing. While VanEck is optimistic about the timing, others, such as JPMorgan, are skeptical about the approval chances. Despite this, Solana’s price saw an uptick this week, contrasting with declines in most other cryptocurrencies.

Venture capital holdings in Toncoin (TON) have proven to be larger than previously disclosed, as reported by The Block’s “The Funding” newsletter. With its close ties to the Telegram messaging app, VCs are bullish on Toncoin due to its potential for distribution to Telegram’s vast user base of nearly 900 million monthly active users.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has invested in a new blockchain project, MegaETH, participating in a $20 million fundraising round that valued the project in the nine-figure range. MegaETH aims to achieve 100,000 transactions per second using a heterogeneous blockchain architecture and a highly optimized EVM execution environment.

Other Noteworthy Developments

Mt. Gox is set to begin the distribution of $9 billion in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash repayments starting in July, which could exert downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.

Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast has completed a much-anticipated airdrop, distributing 17 billion tokens. The token’s price has remained relatively stable between 2 and 3 cents.

Kraken founder Jesse Powell has joined the ranks of prominent crypto figures donating to political campaigns, contributing about $1 million, primarily in Ether, to Donald Trump’s campaign, alongside the Winklevoss twins and Cathie Wood.