The world’s second largest crypto asset by market capitalization, Ethereum, keeps pace with innovative upgrades. The most recent development on Ethereum is the completion of its latest Shanghai update.
On April 13, ConsenSys led Twitter to celebrate the long-awaited release of Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade. The update will allow ETH participants to withdraw their staked Ether for the first time.
But while responding to the ad, CryptoLaw founder Attorney Deaton referenced Hinman’s comment.
ConsenSys Celebrates Ethereum Upgrade, Deaton Responds
According to ConsenSys’ tweet, the Ethereum upgrade was done at the execution and consensus layers of the network. Thus, users could finally withdraw their staked ETH from the Ethereum staking pool.
In their announcement, ConsenSys promised a Shanghai/Capella NFT giveaway to some of the ETH participants. This was part of the company’s approach to celebrate the latest evolution of ETH through an update.
Related Reading: Here Are The DeFi Tokens That Are Outperforming The Market
ConsenSys is an Ethereum software company that supports the development of applications on the Ethereum blockchain.
However, Pro-XRP lawyer Deaton answered to ConsenSys’ announcement about the latest Ethereum upgrade. He posted: “When we look at Ethereum, we don’t see a third party promoter.” Deaton’s response referenced an old comment by former SEC Division of Corporate Finance director Bill Hinman.
Hinman made the comment during an interview with CNBC in 2018. He said that the SEC, as a regulator, does not see any third-party promoters when looking at the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Deaton’s response using Hinman’s comment implies that ConsenSys is the third-party promoter of Ethereum.
Controversies surrounding Hinman’s observation
During the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in 2018, Hinman announced that BTC and ETH are not securities. However, the former SEC head did not comment on XRP, even though the crypto token was among the top three digital assets by market capitalization in 2018.
Following the SEC’s indictment against Ripple for selling unregistered securities, many controversies arose regarding Hinman’s comment. Some members of the crypto community believed that the SEC was biased in its crypto regulatory actions. The US regulator was said favor some crypto protocols above others and ETH is enjoying the magnanimity of the SEC.
Related Reading: Bitcoin Long-Term Headline Rate Returns To 2021 Levels, Good News For Crypto?
Lawyer Deaton revealed that Hinman received more than $9 million in profit sharing from Simpson Thacher. Part of the money came later his departure from the SEC in December 2020.
Also, a non-profit regulator, Empower Oversight published documents indicating the skewed activities of the former SEC director. According to Empower Oversight, Hinman had a direct financial interest in a law firm, Simpson Thacher and Bartlett.
Featured image from Pixabay and graphic from Tradingview
