• The SEC has prompted US-based crypto exchanges offering staking programs and interest-bearing products to comply with securities laws.
• Kraken, Coinbase, and Gemini account for 78% of entities waiting to withdraw their staked Ethereum (ETH).
• Kraken leads these withdrawals with 556,272 ETH worth about $1.17 billion.
SEC Urges US-Based Crypto Exchanges to Withdraw Staked Ethereum
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has urged crypto exchanges in the U.S., such as Kraken, Coinbase, and Gemini, to comply with securities laws by withdrawing staked Ethereum (ETH). According to Nansen’s dashboard, these three exchanges account for roughly 78% of entities waiting to withdraw their ETH tokens from the network. Of the 874,199 ETH tokens pending withdrawal, 682,552 ETH are due for withdrawal from these three exchanges alone.
Kraken Leads Entities Processing Withdrawals
Kraken is leading the charge with a proposed withdrawal of 556,272 ETH worth about $1.17 billion. Following the Shapella Upgrade completion on April 14th ,the exchange’s support team confirmed that they were processing withdrawals for its U.S.-based clients immediately after the upgrade was completed; adding that any locked ETH would automatically enter the unstaking process post-upgrade completion too. In February 2021, however, the SEC fined Kraken $30 million due to its failure to register its staking product as a security earlier on in 2020 when it first launched its service – leading them to end their staking service for all U.S.-based users at that time as well..
Coinbase & Gemini Following Suit
Following suit from Kraken’s lead are Coinbase & Gemini who have also started processing withdrawals from their respective networks too . As of press time ,Gemini is proposing a withdrawal of 108 394 ETH tokens worth about $225 million whereas Coinbase is proposing a withdrawal of 17 886 ETH tokens worth approximately $37 million . It is important to note that this data represents all entities wanting to withdraw their held Etheruem tokens – not just those belonging solely to either exchange platform mentioned above .
Shapella Upgrade Catalyzes Withdrawal Requests
It appears that recent regulatory actions taken by the SEC have catalyzed more requests for token withdrawals than usual . This comes shortly after Ethereum underwent an upgrade known as ‘Shappella’ which saw it surpassing a new milestone – reaching prices above $2100 per token . It remains unclear whether there will be any additional measures taken by other US-based crypto exchanges offering similar services following this news but we can expect them all keeping up with regulatory compliance moving forward .
Conclusion
As seen here , regulatory action taken by the SEC has caused US-based crypto exchanges offering services like staking programs & interest bearing products – such as Kraken , Coinbase , & Gemini –to comply with securities laws by withdrawing held Ethereum tokens accordingly . While it still remains unclear what additional measures may be implemented moving forward , we can expect all these platforms continuing efforts towards maintaining regulatory compliance in order stay within legal boundaries going forward .