The SEC shook Kraken down for $30M, but it doesn’t mean they had a case By Cointelegraph
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The settlement between Kraken (Payward Ventures) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission set off alarm bells in the crypto community this month. Apparently, Kraken — one of the most compliance-minded crypto exchanges in existence — decided to buy its peace rather than fight with the SEC for years over whether it was offering unregistered “securities” through its staking program. The nature of the settlement is that Kraken neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations, and the existence of the settlement, technically speaking, cannot be used as legal precedent for any argument either side of the issue might present.
That said, the settlement matters, as it will clearly chill crypto staking in the United States. As SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said, “Whether it’s through staking-as-a-service, lending, or other means, crypto intermediaries, when offering investment contracts in exchange for investors’ tokens, need to provide the proper disclosures and safeguards required by our securities laws.” Gensler casts a wide net, indeed, for what the SEC considers to be “investment contracts,” and running staking out of business was perhaps precisely what he had in mind.
Ari Good is an attorney whose clients include payments companies, cryptocurrency exchanges and token issuers. His practice areas focus on tax, securities and financial services compliance matters. He received his juris doctor from the DePaul University College of Law in 1997, his Master of Laws in taxation from the University of Florida in 2005, and is presently a candidate for the Executive Master of Laws in securities and financial regulation from the Georgetown University Law Center.
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The settlement between Kraken (Payward Ventures) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission set off alarm bells in the crypto community this month. Apparently, Kraken — one of the most compliance-minded crypto exchanges in existence — decided to buy its peace rather than fight with the SEC for years over whether it was offering unregistered “securities” through its staking program. The nature of the settlement is that Kraken neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations, and the existence of the settlement, technically speaking, cannot be used as legal precedent for any argument either side of the issue might present.
That said, the settlement matters, as it will clearly chill crypto staking in the United States. As SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said, “Whether it’s through staking-as-a-service, lending, or other means, crypto intermediaries, when offering investment contracts in exchange for investors’ tokens, need to provide the proper disclosures and safeguards required by our securities laws.” Gensler casts a wide net, indeed, for what the SEC considers to be “investment contracts,” and running staking out of business was perhaps precisely what he had in mind.
Ari Good is an attorney whose clients include payments companies, cryptocurrency exchanges and token issuers. His practice areas focus on tax, securities and financial services compliance matters. He received his juris doctor from the DePaul University College of Law in 1997, his Master of Laws in taxation from the University of Florida in 2005, and is presently a candidate for the Executive Master of Laws in securities and financial regulation from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph
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