Austin, Texas – Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin is taking his fight to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In late April, his company ConsenSys decided to preemptively sue the U.S. securities regulator after receiving a Wells Notice, a notice indicating that the SEC is preparing a lawsuit against the company.
Speaking on the main stage at Consensus 2024 on Wednesday, the longtime crypto advocate explained what he hopes to gain from ConsenSys' lawsuit in the “great state of Texas”: regulatory clarity, preserving a free market for crypto, and ensuring open source developers aren't targeted.
“What we're trying to achieve is the freedom to innovate,” Lubin said onstage. “We've done our best to strike a fine balance between providing access to applications and the need to be a regulated financial institution. We believe we've got it right and we're continuing to move in the right direction.” That's why the SEC's recent interest in Ethereum is so worrying.
Lubin argued that the SEC has begun targeting some of Ethereum’s biggest companies, including decentralized exchange Uniswap, nonprofit Ethereum Foundation, and major development studio Consensys, precisely because their efforts challenge the potential authority and “vested interests” of regulators and lawmakers.
“Ethereum represents an existential threat to the weight of people's lives who prefer to perpetuate the system and control it top-down,” Lubin said, later adding that cryptocurrency is already changing the “fabric of society.”
“Command and control from above is not working as expected so some form of disengagement is needed,” he added.
But at the same time, Rubin said crypto has crossed the “gap” into American politics and become an increasingly popular topic among speakers. For example, Tom Farley, CEO of CoinDesk-owner Bullish, and Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed on stage that crypto is unlikely to remain a partisan issue in 10 years’ time.
Similarly, Rubin noted that former President Trump's support for crypto and recent judicial victories have led to a significant shift in crypto's political assessment, but stressed the importance of speaking with “all political parties currently in power” even as many in the crypto industry are “interested in going beyond the current political structures” through decentralized technology.
“Most people who are empowered by technology recognize that decentralization is consistent with American principles like free market capitalism and democracy,” Rubin said.
