US SEC: Three Forms of Staking on PoS Chains Do Not Constitute Securities Issuance

According to a report by Jinse Finance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance issued a statement on May 29, stating that it believes "protocol staking activities" do not constitute securities issuance as defined by Section 2(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933 or Section 3(a)(10) of the Exchange Act of 1934. Therefore, participants in protocol staking are not required to register related transactions or apply exemption clauses. The statement covers three forms of protocol staking: (1) "self-staking" by node operators staking their own crypto assets; (2) "self-custody staking" by asset holders through third-party node operators; (3) "custodial arrangements" where custodians lend crypto assets on behalf of clients and stake them. The statement notes that these staking activities only involve administrative or ministerial services and do not meet the key criterion of the Howey Test, which is the "reasonable expectation of profits derived from the efforts of others."