Ethereum Drops 0.509% as SEC Reveals Internal Documents on ETH 2.0

Ethereum's latest price was $1576.67, down 0.509% in the last 24 hours.
has obtained internal documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission concerning the agency’s investigation into Ethereum 2.0, following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, announced that the SEC disclosed a list of withheld documents. These documents include a May 2022 internal analysis of ETH 2.0 under the Howey test, a February 2023 email questioning Ethereum’s (ETH) classification as a security, and an April 2023 memorandum prepared for commissioners before authorizing the ETH 2.0 investigation. Also listed is the case closing narrative for the investigation.
The SEC initially denied Coinbase’s FOIA requests, citing Exemption 7(A), which pertains to ongoing enforcement proceedings. However, after the closure of the Ethereum 2.0 investigation without charges, the SEC acknowledged that the exemption “may” no longer apply. Despite this, the agency proposed a three-year timeline to review over 132,000 documents for other potential exemptions.
Grewal criticized the SEC’s inconsistent treatment of crypto assets, questioning why Ethereum passed the agency’s internal “ecosystem” test while others did not. He emphasized the need for transparency to prevent repeating regulatory missteps.
This legal action is part of Coinbase’s broader effort to challenge what it perceives as regulatory overreach and lack of clarity in the crypto industry. The exchange has also filed lawsuits against the SEC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation over denied Freedom of Information Act requests related to past investigations and actions within the crypto sector.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V to enhance the scalability and performance of the Ethereum network. This proposal comes as Ethereum faces challenges in network activity and transaction fees. Buterin argued that RISC-V, which is already used in zero-knowledge EVMs, could significantly boost proving efficiency by over 50 times. The proposal aims to maintain backward compatibility while shifting the backend computation process to RISC-V.
Ethereum Foundation (EF) co-executive director Tomasz Stanczak has announced that Vitalik Buterin will focus on the extensive Layer 1 scaling roadmap. The Ethereum co-founder recently published insights towards community proposals on privacy and zkVMs, aligning with the decision. This comes amid heated competition for rival blockchains in terms of transaction speed and efficiency.
The recent change in the EF leadership has led to certain changes that could fuel improved developments. In a recent post, Stanczak informed the community that Vitalik Buterin would move towards research, particularly the L1 scaling roadmap. This is a shift away from daily coordination and crisis response to steer innovation.
“I want to make clear that Vitalik’s proposals will always carry weight, but they are intended to start conversations and encourage progress in difficult research areas. Community review may refine them significantly or even reject them. We want the same freedom for our other researchers, who show courage by posing difficult questions and suggesting alternative approaches…”
The Foundation also encourages devs to contribute to the roadmap and scale the user experience. In recent months, many users have posed questions about the Foundation and the network’s mechanisms, sparking further debates. Last week, Buterin highlighted key proposals to Ethereum’s privacy. According to the release, key areas include on-chain privacy, read privacy, network-level anonymity, and more.
To achieve this roadmap, the network will need to implement privacy tools like Railgun into existing wallets. Such a move will introduce a “shielded balance” option, eliminating the need for a separate privacy wallet. Buterin’s proposal also involves a controversial “one address per application” model to remove public links and aid privacy. Since the release, debates on privacy and several models have lingered in community spaces.
Stanczak added that the Ethereum Foundation will prioritize its near-term goals in the next two protocol upgrades. This revolves around user experience and scaling challenges amid growing competition. “We are concentrating on Layer 1 scaling, support for Layer 2 scaling, and significant UX improvements (including interoperability) in the Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam upgrades.”
On April 21st, a significant update highlighted recent leadership adjustments within the Ethereum Foundation, as articulated by co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak. This restructuring is strategically designed to allow Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, to devote greater attention to research and innovative exploration, moving away from routine operational tasks and crisis management.
Stańczak elaborated that the Ethereum Foundation will now prioritize near-term research goals, specifically tackling pressing user experience issues and scaling challenges as part of imminent protocol upgrades. The organization has set a clear focus on enhancing layer-one scaling capabilities while also supporting developments in layer-two solutions. Furthermore, improvements in user experience, particularly regarding interoperability with upcoming upgrades like Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam, will be key targets for the foundation.

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