An unnamed government agency has launched an investigation into the Ethereum Foundation. Details are kept secret.
Some “government body” is conducting an investigation into Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss non-profit organization central to the Ethereum ecosystem. This became known from entries in the GitHub repository dated February 26, 2024, which drew attention to CoinDesk.
It states that the foundation received a confidential request from a government agency. The reasons and scope of the investigation have not been disclosed.
The timing of the potential investigation coincided with important technical changes in the Ethereum ecosystem. In early March, the network underwent a major technical update called Dencun, designed to reduce the cost of transactions for users of second-layer (L2) blockchains deployed on Ethereum.
Additionally, several large investment firms have filed to launch spot Ether ETFs. However, the regulator postponed making a decision on them until at least May 2024.
The Canary Flew Away
Historically, the Ethereum Foundation has supported transparency regarding government requests, as evidenced by a now-removed disclaimer from the site. It contained a promise to disclose information about any non-standard government contacts, but according to code changes reflected on GitHub, the text was removed in February.
In addition, the so-called canary testimony, a way to convey information to users through denial or silence, was removed from the foundation’s website. In other words, if the company does not explicitly confirm the absence of requests from government agencies, then there are such requests.
In 2019, the foundation mistakenly removed this “canary evidence” but then quickly put it back in place.
Carpet checks
According to one version, Swiss regulators, possibly in cooperation with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), sent a request to the Ethereum Foundation to provide documents.
Commenting on the situation, one of the lawyers familiar with the circumstances of the case, reported Coindesk reported that this request is part of a broader review that includes other international organizations.
Source: Cryptocurrency
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