Kraken agreed to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to register the offer and sale of its “crypto asset staking-as-a-service program” and will pay a $30 million fine.
“Today’s action should make clear to the marketplace that staking-as-a-service providers must register and provide full, fair, and truthful disclosure and investor protection,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a statement on Thursday.
The SEC alleged that, since 2019, Kraken offered and sold its staking services to the general public via Kraken pools certain “crypto assets transferred by investors and stakes them on behalf of those investors.”
“When investors provide tokens to staking-as-a-service providers, they lose control of those tokens and take on risks associated with those platforms, with very little protection,” the agency said.
Kraken did not admit or deny the allegations.
The settlement a day after Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong tweeted that he heard “rumors that the SEC would like to get rid of crypto staking in the U.S. for retail customers,” and after Bloomberg reported that the regulator was investigating Kraken over securities violations.
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Source: https://www.theblock.co/post/210332/kraken-settles-sec-charges-over-its-staking-program?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss