BREAKING: After Dismissing the Binance Lawsuit, SEC Announces Another Good News for the Cryptocurrency Market

The Corporate Finance Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released a new interpretation regarding staking activities in networks based on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) aimed at clarifying the relationship between cryptoassets and federal securities law. The statement specifies that certain types of staking transactions do not need to sign up with the SEC. In a statement published by the Ministry of Finance, it is stated that staking activities defined as "Protocol Staking" and conducted on open, permissionless networks using PoS consensus mechanisms are not considered "securities offerings" under federal securities law. Therefore, it is mentioned that there is no requirement to sign up with the SEC for such transactions. In PoS networks, users can take on the role of "Node Operator" by staking cryptoassets defined as "Covered Crypto Assets" and integrated into the technical operations of the network. These operators are randomly selected or according to certain criteria as "Validators" under specific protocol rules. During this process, validators receive both newly minted cryptocurrency and a portion of transaction fees in exchange for verifying new blocks. The SEC's statement details three different staking methods: Personal staking: Users stake directly by running their own nodes, and the ownership of the assets as well as the private keys remain completely under the user's control. Direct self-custody staking with a third party: Users still retain ownership of their assets and their private keys, allowing a third-party node operator to perform verification activities. Escrow staking: Assets are held in a wallet controlled by a third party, known as "Escrow." The escrow agent uses these assets for staking transactions, but ownership of the assets remains with the user and they are not used for lending, speculation, or other purposes.