Kraken CEO calls on Congress to protect US crypto industry after settlement with SEC over staking program
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell on Thursday urged Congress to pass a special law to protect the domestic crypto industry after the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged his crypto trading platform over its staking service.
The Kraken boss tweeted that Congress must act to protect the domestic industry and US consumers and step up their efforts in the context of the same, which is now almost certain to be offshore to get services not available in the US. are going As part of the settlement with the securities regulator, Kraken agreed to end its crypto-staking program for US customers and pay $30 million plus prorated interest and civil penalties. Kraken made it clear via a blog post on Thursday that staking services will continue uninterrupted for non-US customers. Non-US customers can continue to stake and remove assets as well as continue to stake and accrue rewards automatically as usual. Following the security watchdog’s enforcement action on Kraken’s staking program, Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce made a statement disagreeing with her agency’s actions. In it he wrote that, “A patriarchal and lazy regulator settles on this compromise as a workaround and does not initiate a public process to develop a practical registration process that provides valuable information to investors, simply Let it be closed.” Responding to Commissioner Pierce’s statement, Powell tweeted, “That some guidance would be appreciated and added that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approach to this is completely wrong but I will not tell you How to fix it or want to know whether X works or not? “Try it and give See what happens”. “Crypto doesn’t help the industry or consumers and we are not anti-regulation but we need a clear demand to act”.
In a follow-up tweet from the Kraken executive, I sincerely hope that someone will be able to prove in court that there is a legal, user-friendly version of custodial staking that can be offered to US consumers. This will be a brutal, long, expensive fight with a massive distraction but industry and the USA will be extremely grateful.
