Crypto Council Mobilizes 30+ Organizations to Challenge SEC Staking Regulation

The Crypto Council for Innovation is calling on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to deregulate staking, an April 30 letter from the public policy group to the federal regulator shows.

New Letter To SEC Makes A Case For Staking Sans Regulation

Signed by more than 30 crypto organizations, the letter urges the SEC to publicly acknowledge staking as a “technical process” as opposed to an “investment activity.”

2/ Staking isn’t niche—it’s the backbone of the decentralized internet. It secures networks, supports decentralization, and empowers builders to create the next generation of applications on PoS blockchains.

— Crypto Council for Innovation (@crypto_council) April 30, 2025

Additionally, the Crypto Council for Innovation is urging the government agency to lay out clear guidelines for staking while avoiding “overly prescriptive rules that could freeze market structures and stifle innovation in the staking space.”

“Staking isn’t niche—it’s the backbone of the decentralized internet,” The Crypto Council for Innovation said in a Wednesday X post. “It secures networks, supports decentralization, and empowers builders to create the next generation of applications on PoS blockchains.”

“Every serious legislative and regulatory conversation about crypto (including stablecoins) touches staking,” the organization added. “So we have to get it right.”

Defining Staking

Staking occurs when an investor locks up their crypto with a blockchain validator while receiving rewards for participating in the service itself, effectively helping to validate transactions and secure the respective network.

The Crypto Council for Innovation largely argues that since rewards come directly from the blockchain protocol itself, staking does not constitute securities transactions.

The crypto organization is also requesting that the SEC provide clear guidelines for key players in the staking space to follow akin to the agency’s recent statement on proof-of-work mining.

“The industry has stepped up with one voice to make a clear case: staking is not a securities activity, and trying to regulate it as such would only hinder network security, stifle innovation, and undermine U.S. competitiveness in the digital asset space,” the letter concludes.

With rapidly changing crypto policy, it may only be a matter of time before the SEC reclassifies the reward-earning process.