A coalition of 30 crypto advocacy groups, led by the Crypto Council for Innovation, has urged the SEC to clarify its stance on staking. In a joint letter to Commissioner Hester Peirce, the group argued that staking is a technical process used to secure proof-of-stake blockchains—not an investment activity—and should not be regulated as a security.
They stated that staking doesn’t meet the Howey test for investment contracts since users retain ownership of their tokens and rewards are automatically generated by the protocol. The coalition called for principles-based guidance similar to how the SEC has approached proof-of-work mining.
They also proposed standards for staking providers, including transparent fee disclosures, risk warnings, public audits, and clear user consent procedures, aiming to support responsible innovation without unnecessary regulatory burden.