WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and

Exchange Commission on Friday sued cryptocurrency firm

Consensys, alleging it has failed to register as a broker

through its MetaMask swaps service.

Consensys also failed to register the offer and sale of

certain securities through its crypto staking programs, which

allow users to lock up tokens for a certain period of time in

exchange for yield, the SEC said.

The regulator said in its complaint, which was filed in

U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, that Consensys had

collected more than $250 million in fees through "its conduct as

an unregistered broker."

Consensys operates the popular MetaMask self-custodial

crypto wallet, which enables crypto owners to store their assets

as well as buy, send and swap tokens.

Consensys did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

In April, Consensys

sued the SEC

after the firm said it received a formal notice from the

agency that it planned to bring an enforcement action against

the company. In the lawsuit, Consensys said the SEC was

attempting to "unlawfully regulate" ether -- the world's second

largest cryptocurrency -- through enforcement actions.

Consensys said via a social media post on June 19 that

it had received notice that the SEC

had closed its investigation

into the company. Still, the company said it would continue

its lawsuit in pursuit of a court ruling that the SEC does not

have legal authority to regulate software interfaces built on

the ethereum blockchain.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Hannah Lang in

New York)