Consensys

Consensys filed a comment letter with NIST in March 2026 responding to their Request for Information on "Securing AI Agent Systems." Led by MetaMask AI Lead Marco De Rossi, the filing warned that autonomous AI agents "are executing trades, managing wallets, and moving funds at machine speed, often with broad permissions and minimal oversight." Consensys proposed a framework focused on agent identity, bounded permissions, execution-layer verification, and payment integrity — arguing that "agent security on open networks requires purpose-built infrastructure."

Consensys laid off over 160 employees (20% of workforce) in October 2024, citing macroeconomic headwinds, regulatory uncertainty, and costly legal battles with the SEC. CEO Joseph Lubin stated the company needed to "reshape ourselves to be more agile, more effective, and even higher-performing." This was the third major round since early 2023: 11% (96 employees) in January 2023, 20% (160+) in October 2024, and 7% (49 employees) in early 2025. Laid-off employees received "generous severance packages."

Former Consensys employees filed a lawsuit accusing CEO Joseph Lubin of failing to honor equity promises made during the company's startup days, when employees worked for less with the expectation of company equity. The company also faced backlash when MetaMask (owned by Consensys) blocked users in Venezuela, Iran, and other sanctioned regions in 2022 — though the Venezuela block was later described as a configuration error. The SEC dropped its enforcement case against Consensys in early 2025.