The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has claimed that essentially, the entire Ethereum network falls under the US government’s purview.
The SEC recently filed a federal lawsuit against crypto influencer Ian Balina for offering and selling SPRK tokens without registering with the agency first.
He is also charged with not disclosing the compensation he received from the issuer for publicly promoting the tokens.
In the lawsuit’s 69th paragraph, the SEC states that it had the right to sue Balina because his case concerns transactions made in the United States.
The regulator wrote that the ETH sent to Balina was “validated by a network of nodes on the Ethereum blockchain, which are clustered more densely in the United States than in any other country. As a result, those transactions took place in the United States.”
The SEC today claimed it had the right to sue Balina not only because his case concerns transactions made in the United States, but also because, essentially, the entire Ethereum network falls under the US government’s purview.
According to Etherscan, currently 45.85% of all Ethereum nodes operate from the United States.
