ConsenSys, the maker of the popular cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask, is cutting more than 160 employees across all divisions within the company. Founder and CEO Joe Rubin announced the news in a blog post, blaming the layoffs on macroeconomic headwinds and legal costs from a lengthy battle with regulators.
“Multiple lawsuits with the SEC, including ours, show that meaningful jobs and productive investments have been lost due to the SEC’s abuse of power and Congress’s inability to correct the problem,” Rubin said. he wrote. “An attack like this by the U.S. government would ultimately cost many companies millions of dollars.”
Rubin’s comments reflect a widely held sentiment in the crypto industry that the Securities and Exchange Commission is operating in bad faith when it comes to establishing a clear regulatory pathway for digital asset companies. Gary Gensler, the agency’s director, said the SEC’s current law is clear and has filed lawsuits against major companies in the crypto industry, including ConsenSys, for violating securities laws.
Rubin founded ConsenSys in Brooklyn in 2014 as a kind of incubator for projects building on the then-nascent blockchain, which today is the second largest blockchain and the backbone of the cryptocurrency industry. . Its flagship product is MetaMask, which provides a decentralized way to hold tokens and access various related services within the Ethereum ecosystem.
ConsenSys has since moved its headquarters to Texas, where it has been working on developing various infrastructure tools to support Ethereum. In recent years, this effort has been hampered by continued regulatory uncertainty, with Rubin taking the drastic step of suing the SEC in April as part of an effort to ensure that Ethereum is not a security. Lectured. This is a view widely held by many virtual currency lawyers. . A federal court dismissed the preemptive lawsuit this summer, but a related lawsuit brought by the SEC is currently underway.
However, ConsenSys appears to have won at least one legal battle, forcing it to retreat from investigations into a number of companies and developers that rely on Ethereum for business.
Rubin said. luck The job cuts, which he described as “tough but wise decisions to streamline our business,” will affect about 162 of ConsenSys’ 828 employees, he said. He added that the job cuts will span all departments, including business development and products.
The company says it provides generous retirement benefits, including career support and extended medical benefits.
Going forward, ConsenSys aims to accelerate the transition from traditional enterprises to decentralized “networked nations” in accordance with blockchain ideals, Rubin wrote.
