Coinbase staking suit axed in three US states as regulatory winds shift

Kentucky’s Department of Financial Institutions withdrew its lawsuit against Coinbase, which previously alleged that the crypto exchange broke local securities laws by offering digital asset staking services to investors within the state.

The jointly stipulated dismissal signed on Monday ended the enforcement action “without prejudice,” meaning the decision is akin to a formal pause, and authorities retained the right to revisit the matter later. Responding to the news, Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, urged Congress to “end this litigation-driven, state-by-state approach” with a federal crypto regulatory framework.

Kentucky was the latest U.S. state to cool litigation against Coinbase for its staking services by publishing time. On March 14, Vermont axed its Coinbase staking lawsuit, and South Carolina followed suit roughly two weeks after. Seven states — including Alabama, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington, and Wisconsin — have not ended similar cases involving the U.S. crypto exchange.

Staking-related lawsuits against Coinbase were initially part of a broader regulatory plan executed simultaneously with the SEC’s federal enforcement action. The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023 for allegedly violating securities laws by offering unregistered securities via an unregistered securities exchange. Like many other crypto businesses subjected to similar investigations, the platform denied the claims and even launched a countersuit in court. The securities watchdog officially dropped the case in late February, a massive victory for Coinbase and the industry. SEC litigators also binned several cases tied to crypto service providers like Consensys, Kraken, Robinhood and Ripple as new agency leadership under acting chair Mark Uyeda adopted a less aggressive stance.

In other news, Kentucky iced the Coinbase staking lawsuit days after Governor Andy Beshear signed the “Bitcoin Rights” bill to protect self-custody, support crypto mining, and greenlight crypto as a payment method. The bill also bans local regulators from unfairly treating crypto assets and provides exemptive relief for mining and staking services.