Crypto exchange Bitstamp will end Ethereum (ETH) staking services for US customers within a month, according to an August 23 statement.
The company said:
“Customers will continue to earn staking rewards until now [Sept.] On January 25, 2023, all deployed assets will no longer be deployed.”
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 several days and could be affected by network conditions.
Due to the change in services, Bitstamp’s US users no longer appear to have any staking option. While the platform also offers Algorand (ALGO) strikes, that feature is already unavailable in the United States. Additionally, Ethereum and Algorand staking are currently unavailable in Canada, Japan, Singapore, and the UK
The decision comes in the wake of actions by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which recently investigated platforms offering staking services.
Notably, the securities regulator alleged that staking services offered by Coinbase and Binance are securities in lawsuits they filed against each crypto firm in June. The SEC also forced Kraken to stop offering its strike services in the US as part of a $30 million settlement in February. Any of these actions may have influenced Bitstamp’s decision to remove the option for US users.
Bitstamp is going to remove seven US tokens
Bitstamp said earlier on August 8 that it would halt trading of seven cryptocurrency tokens in the US due to regulatory developments in the country.
While Bitstamp did not explicitly mention the developments in question, the decision appeared to be in response to the ongoing SEC cases against Binance and Coinbase mentioned above. In those cases, the tokens involved were classified as securities.
Affected tokens will be removed from US users’ trading options no later than August 29, 2023.
Bitstamp’s post to end Ethereum staking for US customers in September first appeared on CryptoSlate.