Crypto exchange Bitstamp will end Ethereum (ETH) staking services for U.S. customers within a month, according to a statement on Aug. 23.
The company said:
“Customers will continue earning staking rewards up until [Sept.] 25, 2023, and after that, all staked assets will be unstaked.”
Bitstamp added that rewards and principal (i.e., the original amount deposited) would be credited to users’ primary account balances. The company also suggested that this process could take multiple days and may be affected by network conditions.
The alteration in services seems to leave Bitstamp’s U.S. users without any staking options. Though the platform also offers Algorand (ALGO) staking, that feature is already unavailable in the United States. Furthermore, Ethereum and Algorand staking are currently unavailable in Canada, Japan, Singapore, and the U.K.
The decision comes in the aftermath of actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has recently scrutinized platforms offering staking services.
Most notably, the securities regulator claimed that staking services offered by Coinbase and Binance are securities in lawsuits that it filed against each crypto company in June. The SEC also compelled Kraken to stop offering its staking service in the U.S. as part of a $30 million settlement in February. Any of those actions may have influenced Bitstamp’s decision to remove the option from U.S. users.
Bitstamp to delist seven U.S. tokens
Bitstamp previously said on Aug. 8 that it would halt trading for seven cryptocurrency tokens in the U.S. due to regulatory developments in the country.
Though Bitstamp did not explicitly name the developments in question, the decision seemed to be a reaction to the ongoing SEC cases against Binance and Coinbase mentioned above. Those cases classified the implicated tokens as securities.
The affected tokens are set to be removed from U.S. users’ trading options by Aug. 29, 2023.
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