SEC Clarifies Rules for Staked Ethereum
The SEC staff sees liquid staking tokens on Ethereum as receipts, as long as they do not give extra rights or rewards. The explanation follows earlier enforcement against Kraken and gives more clarity for U.S. staking services.
Key Takeaways
- The SEC says liquid staking tokens around Ethereum are not securities if they only serve as receipts for staked ether.
- The token may not add extra rights or rewards, and the provider may not lend, pledge, or reuse the underlying coins.
- The explanation is staff guidance without legal force and can be changed later.
The staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued new guidance on liquid staking tokens around Ethereum. According to the guidance, those tokens are not securities as long as they remain purely receipts for staked ether.
The publication comes at a time when staking has been under a microscope in the U.S. for years. The same regulator hit Kraken with a $30 million fine in 2023 and forced the company to shut down its U.S. staking service.
What the SEC Says Now
Staking means locking up coins to help run a blockchain, in exchange for rewards. With liquid staking, a user gets a tradable token back as proof of the coins they put in.
The SEC now says that such a receipt token is a digital tool when the underlying coin itself counts as a digital commodity. Ether falls into that category according to an interpretation from March. The SEC and the CFTC then named 16 digital commodities, including ETH, which was trading around $2,685 (€2,350).
The core of the guidance is still strict. The token may not change the rights to the staked ETH or add extra rewards. The provider also may not lend, pledge, or reuse the coins. The token itself also may not lock in or determine the rewards.
From Enforcement to Clarity
The new guidance fits into a broader shift at the SEC. In 2025, the regulator already dropped cases against Kraken, Consensys, and Cumberland, while staff statements in May and August of that year had already said that protocol staking and liquid staking do not have to count as securities offerings.
That also fits the SEC's broader push to give more clarity on crypto. In March 2026, it already issued an interpretation on how securities rules apply to certain crypto assets and transactions, and in August 2026 the regulator proposed a separate framework for crypto assets.
For European crypto readers, this matters because U.S. regulators often set the tone for how major staking services structure their products. At the same time, the guidance remains limited to staff guidance. The FAQs have no legal force and can be changed again later.
What This Means for Staking
The SEC is drawing a hard line here. If a provider reuses the staked coins, or if the token does more than just provide proof, the outcome could be different. Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw also previously pointed to the risk that real-world liquid staking programs are less clean than the explanation makes them sound.
So the new rules do not mean that all forms of staking are now free from oversight. They mainly make clear when a liquid staking token can fall outside securities law according to the SEC, and when it cannot.
