Former CFTC chair believes the EU must clarify what is permitted for staking

It is unknown if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to Timothy Massad, former head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement action against Kraken signals a larger assault on staking.

Forkast interviewed Massad on Thursday at the Taiwan Fintech Association conference, and Massad said that “the facts make it obvious why the SEC took its action” in the Kraken case. “The Kraken case, simply given its wording, was very much definitely solicitation of an investment and fits inside the definition of an investment contract,” Massad said.

Kraken’s staking program is very distinct from those provided by other platforms, and “we don’t know at this point whether it was simply those features that prompted the SEC to file that case or if this represents a wider assault on staking,” Massad said.

“We’ll have to wait and see whether the SEC clarifies which kind of staking are permitted and which are not,” Massad added.

The SEC suspended Kraken’s staking program for U.S. investors earlier this month, a move the agency deemed “a success for investors.”

Afterwards, SEC commissioner Hester Peirce publicly criticized the action, describing it as “paternalistic and careless.”

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