Today, Kraken reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its on-chain staking program. Because of this settlement,
Kraken has agreed to end its on-chain staking services for U.S. clients.
What does this mean for you?
So long as your account is based in the U.S., you will not be able to participate in our staking program.
Your existing on-chain staking balances will be automatically unstaked. They will be returned to your Kraken spot wallet and will no longer earn rewards.
A final reward payout will be prorated through February 9th. These rewards will not be automatically staked and instead will be paid out in their non-staked form.
For more information, please refer to our blog post. If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact Kraken Support or your Kraken Account Manager.
Thank you for choosing Kraken, the trusted and secure digital asset platform.
The Kraken Team
What does this mean about regulation and policy for U.S. customers? I don't remember voting for this non-participation in on-chain staking? Oh, but did we vote for parties that elect/hire folks to do our bidding for us as U.S. citizens? The majority must have elected parties who have our best interest in mind. Why else would staking rewards be something only international users have access?
I feel well protected now. I didn't want to receive anymore MATIC at 9% by simply holding my MATIC on the Kraken exchange. But seriously, staking was the only reason for being on a centralized exchange. Now, we should be fully motivated to KEEP all digital assets in hardware wallets which only we have the KEYS to unlock and access.
NOT YOUR KEYS, NOT YOUR CRYPTO.
NOT YOUR WALLET, NOT YOUR CRYPTO.
NOT STAKING ANYMORE, NOT HOLDING MY CRYPTO.
Learn more from updates on Cointelegraph with this link: https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-reaches-30m-settlement-with-sec-over-staking
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes the anti-stakeist approach is damaging to the scalability, security, and sustainability of open-crypto networks:
“I hope that’s not the case as I believe it would be a terrible path for the U.S. if that was allowed to happen." Armstrong added, "Staking is a really important innovation in crypto. It allows users to participate directly in running open crypto networks. Staking brings many positive improvements to the space, including scalability, increased security, and reduced carbon footprints."
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) February 8, 2023
Armstrong and Coinbase are undergoing scrutiny and examination of financial operations comparable to Kraken. With rewards from staking recently earning Coinbase over $60m and 10% of nearly $600m in revenue, it is no doubt there will be fear lingering around Coinbase investors and agents as the SEC cracks the whip. The publicly traded Coinbase closes down 14% in lieu of the Kraken $30 million settlement. CNN reports: CNN Feb 9 article link
Get YOUR crypto assets into YOUR custody so they remain YOURS...for now.
This BLOG article is definitely not trading, legal, financial, tax, or any other type of unsolicited or solicited advice. Just facts and opinions intermingled like most things on the internet. Do your own research and only risk money that you can afford to lose if you participate in open market trading or investing in digital products such as derivatives and spot currencies.