A U.S. judge has granted a request by software company Consensys seeking an accelerated timeline in its lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a July 1 filing, Judge Reid O’Connor agreed to a timetable in which the court will now consider the substance of ConsenSys’ case against the regulator. Bill Hughes, ConsenSys’ senior counsel, said: subscriber Some details of the judge’s ruling via X dated July 2.
“Important news on Consensys v. Gensler. Judge O’Connor granted our request to consider the merits of our case on an expedited basis: whether the SEC has congressional authority to regulate MetaMask as a broker-dealer and issuer of securities,” Hughes said.
When is the verdict likely to be issued?
According to Hughes, the above issues are now under consideration along with any arguments from the SEC that Consensys’ case against the agency should not be allowed.
According to the expected timeline for proceedings, the SEC has until July 29 to file its response. Meanwhile, the deadline for filing opening briefs on the critical applications is September 20, 2024. They must be filed no later than September
In the filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Judge O’Connor also ordered any amicus briefs to be filed on or before October 4 and opposition briefs no later than November 1, 2024.
Hughes believes a verdict in the case could be issued in December, and it seems likely that it will be issued by Christmas.
Consensys v. SEC – Lawsuit and Countersuit
Judge O’Connor’s ruling comes just days after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Consensys over its MetaMask platform and related offerings for storage services.
Recall that Consensys filed a lawsuit against the SEC in April. In the lawsuit, the company sought a ruling that Ethereum is not a security and MetaMask is not an intermediary.
Consensys announced that regulators had dropped their investigation into Ethereum 2.0 in June, only for the SEC to file its own lawsuit accusing Consensys of securities violations. Specifically, the SEC alleges that MetaMask is an unregistered broker-dealer and offers unregistered securities.