Ethereum staking is set to be phased out for Bitstamp customers in the United States starting September 25th. Till then, customers of the crypto exchange can continue to accumulate staking rewards, according to the announcement communicated via US CEO Bobby Zagotta.
After the deadline, all staked assets will be withdrawn from the staking program, and the combined rewards and principal will be transferred to users’ primary Bitstamp account balances. The whole process will likely last for a few days but “could be extended depending on network conditions,” the media statement read.
Other services provided by Bitstamp will continue without disruption. The reason behind the discontinuation of staking services has been attributed to the regulatory climate in the US. “Given the current regulatory landscape in the US, we have reached the verdict to discontinue staking opportunities for our US-based clientele.”
Zagotta further highlighted the ongoing practice of evaluating the services and adjusting to the evolving regulatory frameworks in all operational jurisdictions. It’s important to note that regulatory authorities in the United States have taken strong measures concerning staking services.
For instance, back in February, the SEC targeted Kraken for not properly registering the offering and sale of their staking-as-a-service program related to crypto-assets. This resulted in Kraken agreeing to pay $30 million to settle the charges.
Similarly, the regulator pursued legal action against Coinbase and Binance, alleging that their staking programs met the criteria outlined in the Howey test, which categorizes them as investment contracts and thus falls within the realm of securities. According to the SEC, the operation of such services should adhere to the registration requirements laid out in the Securities Act.
Ethereum Staking Unfazed
On a different note, the landscape for Ethereum staking has remained resilient. EigenLayer, a prominent decentralized finance [DeFi] platform, has observed a remarkable 207% increase in total value locked [TVL]. This surge follows the platform’s decision to raise the liquid restaking limit to 100,000 ether [ETH].
Upon its launch in June, the restaking protocol rapidly hit the 100,000 ETH cap in just a matter of hours. As per DefiLlama data, the TVL soared from $78 million to an impressive $238 million.
In the realm of restaking, network validators acquire added rewards on staked ETH within the primary Ethereum blockchain. Individuals aiming to become network validators, responsible for providing computational resources for transaction processing on a blockchain, are mandated to stake a minimum of 32 ETH.