Weekly recap: Lawsuits fly, Wall Street eyes Solana ETFs, Vitalik goes Mega, and more stories you missed
Quick Take
- Crypto had a busy week in the courts: the SEC sued Consensys, Coinbase sued the SEC, and Logan Paul sued CoffeeZilla, just to name a few. Plus, the Supreme Court’s Chevron decision and a recent decision in the SEC’s case against Binance could have lasting implications.
- Plus, several firms file for Solana ETFs, Vitalik makes a Mega investment, and more top stories you missed.
It was a week of ups and downs for SEC Chair Gary Gensler. On Thursday, Coinbase sued the agency and the FDIC over its handling of FOIA information requests, while on Friday the SEC sued MetaMask-maker Consensys over the $250 million in fees it's collected. Plus, YouTuber Logan Paul sued fellow YouTube creator CoffeeZilla for defamation over the latter's critical coverage of Paul's CryptoZoo project.
Outside the courts, Wall Street is eyeing Solana ETFs, Vitalik invested in a new blockchain, VCs reveal larger TON holdings than previously reported, and more. Here are the top stories you may have missed this week in crypto.
Lots of lawsuits
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against ConsenSys, the company behind the MetaMask wallet, alleging that its MetaMask Swaps and staking services constitute unregistered securities offerings. Previous legal action related to Coinbase may provide a clue that the SEC has a weak case against the firm, but experts remain divided.
- Coinbase has filed a lawsuit against the SEC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), claiming that these agencies have not adequately responded to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Coinbase seeks to uncover whether federal regulators have been deliberately attempting to marginalize the crypto industry through coordinated actions.
- Logan Paul has filed a lawsuit against YouTuber Coffeezilla (Stephen Findeisen) for defamation related to the latter's coverage of the CryptoZoo NFT project. Coffeezilla had accused Paul of promoting a fraudulent project, which Paul denies, instead laying the blame at the feet of the project's adviser and its developer.
- Finally, the US Supreme Court's reversal of the so-called "Chevron" doctrine may give the crypto industry a win, according to pundits, who are also cheering on the recent mixed decision handed down in the SEC's case against Binance.
VCs and Wall Street
- Following the success of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETF approvals, Wall Street is now eyeing its next ETF target: Solana. VanEck was the first to file for a Solana ETF, claiming the token is a commodity, though 21Shares followed with its own S-1 filing. While VanEck feels it's a better time than ever to shoot for a Solana ETF, others like JPMorgan have cast doubt on the likelihood the applications are approved. Markets have responded encouragingly to the news, though; Solana gained in price this week while most other cryptos fell.
- Also, VCs holdings of Toncoin (TON) are larger than previously reported, as covered in the most recent edition of The Block's The Funding newsletter. The coin, closely integrated with messaging app Telegram, has VCs bullish because of its potential as a distribution play for Telegram's nearly 900 million monthly active users.
- Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, invested in new blockchain project MegaETH, part of a $20 million fundraising round at a "nine-figure" token valuation. The project hopes to reach 100,000 transactions per second through two key techniques — a heterogeneous blockchain architecture and a "hyper-optimized" EVM execution environment.
Everything else
- Mt. Gox is preparing to distribute $9 billion in bitcoin and bitcoin cash repayments starting in July, potentially putting more downward pressure on bitcoin's price.
- Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast issued 17 billion tokens in its long-awaited airdrop. Blast's token's price has mostly stayed steady between 2 and 3 cents, according to The Block's Blast Price Page.
- Kraken founder Jesse Powell joins Winklevoss twins, Cathie Wood by donating big to Trump's campaign: in this case, about $1 million in "mostly ether."
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