Court Grants Consensys Request For Expedited Hearing Against The SEC

A United States Court has granted Consensys request for an expedited hearing in its case against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This has pushed the timeline closer in a bid to get more regulatory clarity in the cryptocurrency market. Consensys filed a lawsuit against the SEC in April following a Wells Notice by the regulator to classify Ether as a security. 

Consensys V SEC Expedited

In a recent court ruling, the case filed by the blockchain software company against the U.S. regulator will see its merit heard on an expedited basis. Bill Hughes, Consensys legal rep wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Judge O’Connor’s request to grant the application will deal with issues taking the time of ruling closer.

Important News about about @Consensys v. Gensler. Judge O’Connor granted our request that he consider the merits of our case on an expedited basis: whether the SEC has Congressional authority to regulate MetaMask as a securities broker and issuer. Those questions would be… pic.twitter.com/B6jFQebjCk

— Bill Hughes : wchughes.eth 🦊 (@BillHughesDC) July 2, 2024

“Judge O’Connor granted our request that he consider the merits of our case on an expedited basis:  whether the SEC has Congressional authority to regulate MetaMask as a securities broker and issuer.  Those questions would be considered alongside any arguments the SEC would make that we don’t get to bring a case against them.” 

According to the ruling, the timeline of events will see the SEC file a defendant’s answer before July 29 while initial discovery will be completed on August 16. At the end of events is the reply brief to be filed on Nov 26 with other court filings within this period. This brings the timeline of the final ruling to the end of the year or early 2025. In the meantime, crypto users have hailed the decision to bring more clarity to the powers of authorities. 

SEC Seeks To Regulate MetaMask 

As noted, the court will decide whether the SEC has powers to regulate MetaMask as a broker-dealer. Last week, the Commission sued Consensys, MetaMask’s parent company for allegedly operating as an unregistered broker among other related issues. According to the complaint, Consensys has taken over $250 in fees without proper regulations. In April the company sued the SEC over potential attempts to categorize ETH as a security. 

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