Bitstamp to suspend staking in the United States

One of the oldest crypto exchanges, Bitstamp, will suspend its staking program for all US users next month, according to Blockworks.

“Users will continue to receive rewards until September 25, 2023, after which all staked assets will be withdrawn from staking. Rewards along with the principal will be credited to the main balance of Bitstamp accounts. This process usually takes several days, but may be extended depending on network conditions,” the exchange’s letter, which came into the publication’s possession, said.

Company representatives noted that the decision was taken due to an unfavourable regulatory environment in the United States. They also stressed that other platform functions would continue to operate normally.

Earlier this month the exchange halted trading in seven tokens in the United States, including Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), Near Protocol (NEAR), Axie Infinity (AXS), Chiliz (CHZ), Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND).

Recall that in February the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed Kraken’s staking service an unregistered offer of securities. The latter did not admit or deny the accusations, but agreed to shut down the program and pay $30 million in penalties.

For this reason, another American company — Coinbase — suspended the staking service in four US states.

Shortly before that, the SEC filed civil charges against the exchange, accusing it of an unregistered offer of securities in the form of a number of tokens.