According to ChainCatcher and reported by The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated in its latest guidelines that certain liquid staking activities do not involve securities, and individuals engaging in liquid staking activities do not need to register with the agency under securities law. Liquid staking parties that may not be subject to securities law include Lido, Marinade Finance, JitoSOL, and Stakewise.
The SEC pointed out that the issuance and sale of pledge receipt tokens in certain ways and circumstances do not constitute the issuance and sale of securities, unless the deposit of cryptocurrency is part of an investment contract. This especially applies to staking cryptocurrency through software protocols or service providers and then obtaining 'liquid staking receipt tokens' to prove the staker's ownership of the staked cryptocurrency and any earnings generated from it.
Some experts believe that this guidance may prompt the SEC to approve the proposed spot Ethereum ETF's staking operations, as liquid staking tokens can help manage the ETF's internal liquidity, which was previously a concern for the SEC. Additionally, this statement has significant implications for receipt tokens related to cross-chain bridging, as some companies are seeking to amend the listing of the Ethereum ETF to allow staking.
