Share this article
Algorand Foundation CEO: SEC’s Crypto Crackdown Highlights Lack of Regulatory Clarity
Staci Warden told CoinDesk TV crypto-native firms are being punished rather than given guidance.
Updated Feb 13, 2023, 7:45 p.m. Published Feb 13, 2023, 7:45 p.m.
Had the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) laid out clear guidelines, centralized crypto exchange Kraken and its staking-as-a-service platform could have been within the purview of the regulatory agency, said Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation.
Instead, Kraken is “being punished, as opposed to given guidance,” Warden told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” on Monday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Last week, the SEC reached a $30 million settlement with Kraken and the San Francisco-based exchange “immediately” closed down its staking-as-a-service platform to its U.S.-based customers.
Kraken began offering staking services in 2019. However, according to the regulator’s press release, its staking services were promoting the sale of an unregistered security.
Warden said that if Kraken’s protocol had been more of a “pass-through profit-taking from the underlying protocol,” the agency might have been fine with Kraken.
The SEC could argue that because Kraken is an exchange that happens to offer digital assets, it should still be regulated like other exchanges that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, she added.
According to Warden, the broader issue is that regulation for crypto has yet to be defined.
The SEC also reportedly plans to sue stablecoin issuer Paxos, a fintech firm that offers crypto services, over its alleged sale of an unregistered security, stablecoin token Binance USD (BUSD).
“It’s not the regulation so much, it’s the way that regulation is taking place,” Warden said. She added that regulation by enforcement and the lack of regulatory clarity is making it difficult for crypto platforms to know what the agency wants from them.
That may, in turn, have a substantial impact on crypto and the use of stablecoins and staking, which Warden said are “important primitives” to the industry overall.
“They are trying to do the right thing,” Warden said of the industry, pointing to Kraken and Coinbase as examples. “And with some better regulatory clarity upfront, they would have, in my view, probably done exactly what the SEC needed them to do,” Warden said.
Read more: SEC to Sue Crypto Trust Co. Paxos Over Binance Stablecoin: WSJ
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Canadian Province Wins Forfeiture of $1M QuadrigaCX Co-Founder's Cash, Gold via Default Judgment
The ruling transfers cash, gold bars, watches, and jewelry seized from a CIBC safety deposit box and bank account into government hands after Patryn did not defend the case.
What to know:
- The Supreme Court of British Columbia has forfeited $1 million in cash and gold tied to QuadrigaCX's co-founder, Michael Patryn, to the government.
- Patryn did not contest the forfeiture, which involved 45 gold bars, luxury watches, and over $250,000 in cash seized under an Unexplained Wealth Order.
- The forfeiture may lead to a process determining if any assets can be directed to QuadrigaCX's creditors, who received 13 cents on the dollar in the bankruptcy settlement.
Top Stories
