Az The American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) singled out Kraken for itself this time.It banned its American customers from the staking service and imposed a hefty $30 million fine on the crypto exchange.
In an article on Thursday, we wrote about the SEC’s recent threats that the authority would ban cryptocurrency staking.After Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the crypto exchange Coinbase, publicly shared his worried thoughts about the Exchange Commission’s new plan, opinions were divided among the players in the crypto community.
We rarely see examples of government intervention in the cryptosphere leading to just results.Among other things, the majority of the community is worried that this step of the Stock Exchange would only hinder the development and growth of cryptocurrencies.However, we must admit that in order for the industry to finally achieve global acceptance and gain international trust, certain rules must be followed.
For this, however, it is essential that the regulators create a detailed, comprehensive framework for the regulation of cryptocurrencies that takes into account all scenarios.
Permanent: US users can no longer stake on Kraken
Despite the fact that most of the attention was directed towards Coinbase the day before yesterday, the SEC wanted to intervene in the affairs of another crypto exchange.One
in a statement the regulator released allegations that Kraken failed to register its crypto-asset staking service program with the SEC.Furthermore, in addition to ordering the staking program to be stopped, he also imposed a $30 million penalty on the largest US crypto exchange.
“We’ve seen case after case the consequences of individuals and businesses promoting and offering crypto investments outside of the protections afforded by federal securities laws.Investors do not receive the information they are entitled to and suffer serious damages as a result” said Gurbir S.Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Kraken’s chief hopes someone will stand up to the SEC
In order to settle the SEC charges, the two Kraken units agreed to immediately cease its cryptocurrency staking service and pay its $30 million fine.
Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell then tweeted that hopes to have a crypto exchange that defies the SEC.At the same time, he is aware that it is one “brutal, long and expensive fight” would be something that the crypto exchange cannot deal with at the moment.
Bigger balance sheet wouldn’t hurt either.
They picked the bottom of the bear market, waited for us to do a 30% layoff.They have all our financials, lots of leverage.Maybe we looked weak.This is more about FTX than it is us or staking but the timing was not great.
Potential…
— Jesse Powell (@jespow)
[February 9, 2023]
What does this mean for Kraken users?
Once the decision is made, US users will simply be banned from staking on the platform.Their escrow assets (except ETH) will be automatically unlocked and returned to users’ wallets.Ethereum’s situation is different because the Shanghai hard fork is imminent on its blockchain, which is crucial from the point of view of pegged Ethereum coins.
The update also brings a reduction in gas fees for transactions on the Ethereum network.Also, another very beneficial aspect of the fork is that investors no longer have to pay transaction fees for failed transactions.
Because, as surprising as it is, according to the current operation, these fees are paid regardless of the success of the transactions, since the miners have to confirm them anyway, and as we well know, nothing is free.
The crypto exchange will continue to offer staking services to non-US customers through various subsidiaries.
Who’s Next on the SEC Blacklist?
According to rumors, further enforcement actions are expected from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.Report by Samuel Andrew
according to in the coming days and weeks “more exchanges and stablecoin issuers will receive Wells notifications”.Said notice is a signal sent by regulators to inform individuals or companies of completed investigations where violations have been discovered.The notice notifies the addressees of both the comprehensive nature of the discovered violations and the type of enforcement procedure to be initiated against the addressee.
