Ethereum Foundation Allegedly Receives Confidential Request from Unnamed State Authority

The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization registered in Switzerland, has reportedly received a confidential request from an unnamed “state authority,” according to CoinDesk.

A commit on GitHub dated February 26, 2024, indicates that the website’s source code was altered following a “voluntary request from a state authority, which included a confidentiality requirement.”

The content of this request and the jurisdiction of the contacting authority remain unknown.

A disclaimer with the following information was removed from the site:

“No agency has ever contacted the Ethereum Foundation in a manner that required non-disclosure of the contact. The Ethereum Foundation will publicly disclose any requests from state authorities that go beyond ordinary business operations.”

According to Fortune, the request may originate from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several unnamed American companies have informed journalists that they received subpoenas regarding the classification of Ethereum as a security.

The SEC declined to comment on the existence or absence of a potential investigation into the Ethereum Foundation. Representatives of the foundation have also not made any official statements regarding the situation.

Earlier in March, Grayscale and Coinbase discussed with the regulator the conversion of ETHE into a spot Ethereum ETF. 

The race to launch exchange-traded funds based on the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization also includes Franklin Templeton, VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, and Invesco with Galaxy.

Previously, U.S. senators urged the SEC not to approve new crypto ETFs, citing “enormous risks” associated with this instrument.