Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase may stop staking Ethereum due to regulatory policy

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the company will close Ethereum staking services to preserve the integrity of the blockchain network in the event of regulatory measures by the US government. The CEO made his statement in response to a tweet by Rotkiapp project founder Lefteris Karapetsas, who asked about the views of various cryptocurrency platforms on such a hypothetical situation. The question concerned Coinbase, Kraken, Lido Finance, Staked, and Bitcoin Suisse.

Karapetsas asked the cryptocurrency companies how they would react if regulators asked them to censor the Ethereum protocol using their validators, offering two options:

A) Comply with the regulator’s request

B) Close the staking service and preserve the integrity of the platform.

«This is a hypothetical request from regulators, which I hope we will not see in real life. However, if requested, we would follow option B, i.e. stop participating in staking to protect our own risks. Although, we might have found a more acceptable option, or launched a lawsuit that could lead to a resolution of the situation,» said Coinbase CEO.

Earlier, we wrote that the Federal Court of Georgia (USA) received a class action lawsuit against Coinbase. It claims that the company is involved in unauthorized transfers of assets, freezes funds, and blocks consumers from accessing their accounts.