The cryptocurrency advocacy group Coin Center has filed an amicus curiae brief in the ongoing criminal trial of brothers Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, who are accused of exploiting Ethereum's Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) system to steal $25 million in April 2023. The brief, submitted on the 14th day of the trial, disputes the U.S. government's legal theory that the defendants misrepresented themselves as 'honest validators' to carry out the exploit.
Coin Center argues that 'honest validation' in the Ethereum ecosystem is a mathematical process based on consensus rules, not a legal or ethical judgment. They contend that the brothers did not violate any of Ethereum's protocol rules, as the network inherently allows validators to profit from transaction sequencing through MEV bots. The group warns that prosecuting this behavior could undermine Ethereum's decentralized, open-source design and stifle innovation by imposing an external code of conduct.
The prosecution alleges the brothers engaged in false pretenses, leading to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to receive stolen property. If convicted, each brother faces up to 20 years in prison per count. Defense attorneys have labeled the theory 'nonsensical', while Coin Center emphasizes that Ethereum's automated penalties, like slashing, already regulate such actions without need for legal intervention.
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