• The SEC is meeting in a closed-door session on Thursday to settle charges with crypto exchange Kraken over their offering of unregistered securities.
• Under the settlement, Kraken will “immediately” end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S. customers and pay $30 million to the SEC.
• This includes shutting down their crypto-lending product that offered up to 24% yield as well as their 20% APY staking rewards service.
Kraken Agrees to Shutter US Crypto-Staking Operations
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is meeting in a closed-door session on Thursday to settle charges with crypto exchange Kraken over their offering of unregistered securities. Under the settlement, Kraken will “immediately” end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S. customers and pay $30 million to the SEC. This includes shutting down their crypto-lending product that offered up to 24% yield as well as their 20% APY staking rewards service.
Details of Settlement
Kraken offers a number of services under its staking umbrella, including a crypto-lending product offering up to 24% yield which is also expected to shut down under the settlement according Bloomberg news report which stated that Kraken was close to a settlement with the SEC over offering unregistered securities on Wednesday.
SEC Confirmation
The SEC confirmed that Kraken would shut down its staking services for U.S customers after the publication of this article and an announcement may come later in the day from them regarding this matter according an industry source briefed on it who spoke with CoinDesk . A spokesperson from both Kraken and SEC declined comment before publishing this article but did confirm afterwords that this agreement has been made between them .
Implications for Crypto Regulation
CoinDesk Global Policy and Regulation Managing Editor Nikhilesh De discussed about wider implications for other cryptocurrency exchanges concerning regulation after this incident took place between the two entities . It will be interesting how other cryptocurrency exchanges respond by taking measures into consideration themselves or if they are forced by law like what happened here with Kraken .
Conclusion
In conclusion, it appears that Kraken has agreed upon settling charges brought against them by paying out $30 million dollars while also immediately ceasing all services relating to cryptocurrency staking within U.S borders in order to avoid any further consequences which could have otherwise been more severe if they weren’t willing to cooperate fully with authorities concerned .