The US Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) has clarified that sure cryptocurrency liquid staking actions don’t represent securities choices, a notable step within the company’s ongoing effort to supply clearer steerage on digital asset regulation.
“The assertion clarifies the division’s view that, relying on the info and circumstances, the liquid staking actions lined within the assertion don’t contain the supply and sale of securities,” the regulator said Tuesday, referring to key sections of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Alternate Act of 1934.
In its Employees Assertion, the SEC outlined liquid staking as the method of staking digital property by a protocol and receiving a “liquid staking receipt token,” which serves as proof of the staker’s possession.
“Right this moment’s employees assertion on liquid staking is a big step ahead in clarifying the employees’s view about crypto asset actions that don’t fall inside the SEC’s jurisdiction,” SEC Chair Paul Atkins mentioned in an announcement.
The SEC’s clarification comes amid rising institutional curiosity in liquid staking exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with corporations like Jito Labs, VanEck and Bitwise urging the agency to approve liquid staking methods for Solana (SOL)-based funds.
Liquid staking has change into one of many largest subsectors in crypto, with whole worth locked (TVL) nearing $67 billion throughout all protocols, in response to DefiLlama. Ethereum alone accounts for $51 billion of that whole.
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SEC adopts pro-crypto method underneath Paul Atkins
The announcement follows the SEC’s launch of Project Crypto — a sweeping initiative to overtake the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency buying and selling in america. As SEC Chair Paul Atkins famous final week, the venture was developed in response to suggestions from the White Home’s Working Group on Digital Belongings
Since taking workplace, Atkins has led a extra lenient method to digital asset regulation, shifting away from the company’s prior “regulation by enforcement” stance underneath former Chair Gary Gensler. That shift included a May clarification that proof-of-stake protocols don’t represent securities transactions.
Underneath Atkins’ management, the SEC has additionally taken significant steps to ease regulatory burdens on cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Notably, on July 29, the company approved in-kind creations and redemptions for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs, permitting licensed individuals to trade ETF shares immediately for the underlying property somewhat than money.
The US crypto trade can also be gaining momentum from sweeping coverage reforms designed to make digital property extra accessible. These embody the passage of the GENIUS Act, a landmark stablecoin invoice, and Home approval of market construction and anti-CBDC laws forward of the August recess.
Associated: SEC ends ‘regulation through enforcement,’ calls tokenization ‘innovation’
