SEC Guidance Clears Path for Institutional Liquid Staking Adoption in U.S.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued new guidance that could significantly boost institutional adoption of liquid staking in the United States. According to the guidance released by the agency’s Division of Corporation Finance, certain liquid staking arrangements—including the issuance of receipt tokens like stETH—do not constitute securities transactions [1]. This marks a pivotal development for the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry, which has long sought regulatory clarity around staking models.

Liquid staking allows users to stake their crypto assets with a third-party protocol and receive a new token representing their deposit and accrued staking rewards. These tokens, such as stETH for Ethereum, enable users to maintain liquidity while participating in staking. The SEC’s clarification addresses whether these arrangements fall under U.S. securities laws, with the agency concluding that they do not. This has been widely welcomed by the industry as a major breakthrough [1].

Sam Kim, Chief Legal Officer of Lido Labs Foundation, emphasized the importance of the guidance, calling it a “breakthrough moment” for the sector. He noted that the clarity would encourage institutional investors and platforms that had previously been hesitant to participate due to legal uncertainty. “Without the fear of triggering securities laws, more protocols may integrate liquid staking tokens, expanding their utility across DeFi,” Kim said [1].

With the regulatory uncertainty now reduced, liquid staking protocols may gain broader acceptance among centralized exchanges, fintech platforms, and regulated investment firms. This shift could lead to increased liquidity and utility for staking receipt tokens across the U.S. financial ecosystem [1].

Legal analysts have also highlighted the broader implications of the SEC’s guidance. Jason Gottlieb, a partner at Morrison Cohen, pointed out that the agency’s reasoning could influence future regulatory considerations around similar mechanisms such as cross-chain bridges and wrapped tokens. “With the SEC now correctly taking the position that cryptocurrency tokens themselves are not securities, it makes sense that a receipt for a token is not a receipt for a security,” he said [1].

As the United States continues to serve as the world’s largest capital market, the regulatory clarity around liquid staking represents a pivotal step in the maturity of the crypto market. For DeFi builders and institutional actors, this move sends a clear signal that innovation can proceed within a more defined legal framework. Protocols like Lido see this not just as a legal signal but as an invitation to scale their operations and deepen their integration into the broader financial system [1].

Source: [1] SEC Clarity on Crypto Liquid Staking Opens Door to Institutional Adoption in U.S. https://cryptonews.com/news/sec-clarity-on-crypto-liquid-staking-opens-door-to-institutional-adoption-in-u-s/