Bitstamp, one of the oldest crypto trading platforms in operation today, has decided to stop serving its staking services to customers in the United States. With Sept. 25 set as the end date for the trading platform to end this specialized service, the move underscores the growing uncertainty in the American regulatory landscape and how firms are pushing to be on the right side of the law.
For Bitstamp, the exchange has promised to keep up its other services and offerings in the country without any form of securities designation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. As the trading platform only offers Ethereum staking services in the country, National CEO Bobby Zagotta confirmed the program is coming to an end in a statement.
"Customers will continue earning staking rewards up until September 25, 2023, and after that, all staked assets will be unstaked," Zagotta said. "Rewards, along with the principal, will be credited to users' main Bitstamp account balances. Typically, this process takes a few days but could be extended depending on network conditions."
While Bitstamp is yet to be directly poked by the SEC, making this move might save the firm from many regulatory crackdowns in the near future.
Learning from others
With the U.S. SEC effecting some of its most ambitious crackdowns in the past year, the top exchanges in the country have come under its radar, in a rather tough way. Kraken exchange was the first to be indicted this year as the regulator labeled its staking services an unregistered security.
The enforcement action brought on the exchange at the time was accompanied by $30 million, with the platform subsequently taking the service offline. Bitstamp, with its proactive move, is obviously learning from its peers, including Coinbase Global, who have also stopped support for similar product offerings in the country.