Breaking: Kraken Cracks Under SEC Pressure, Agrees to Pay $30M

• The SEC announced on Thursday that Kraken agreed to settle a complaint by shutting down its crypto staking service and paying a $30 million fine.
• According to the Commission, Kraken’s staking service offered since 2019 was an unregistered crypto staking program
• Kraken revealed in a blog post it would continue offering crypto staking to customers outside the US through a subsidiary.
• The settlement has been anticipated since Wednesday when it was reported that the SEC was in the advanced stages of a probe into the exchange.
• On Wednesday afternoon Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong rang the alarm that the Commission may try and ban crypto staking in the United States.
• In his Twitter thread, Armstrong stated that such a move would be a “terrible path” for the country to take.

This is a breaking story and will be updated as new details emerge.

Editorial note (February 9th, 2023, 3:36 PM EST): A bullet point on Kraken’s blog post on the settlement was added.