New Jersey Drops Coinbase Staking Suit After 3+ Years

New Jersey has withdrawn its lawsuit against Coinbase and lifted the cease-and-desist order that blocked staking for state residents, Coinbase legal counsel Molly Abraham said on November 2 at about 1:30 p.m. ET. Users in the state can return to staking after more than three years of restrictions.

Details

New Jersey ordered Coinbase to stop its staking program on June 6, 2023, treating it as an unregistered securities offering. The state attorney general's press release from that day contains the order. Coinbase disagreed and described the service as technical support for validators.

In her post on X, Abraham said the state "formally dropped" the suit and lifted the order, and that New Jersey users had missed "millions of dollars" in rewards. Crypto Briefing estimates the shortfall at about $15 million; that is the outlet's estimate, not a figure from the state.

Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Alabama had earlier abandoned similar actions. Coinbase says Wisconsin, Maryland, California and Washington are next. TechFlow reports that CEO Brian Armstrong said New Jersey users will "soon" be able to stake again; no exact relaunch date for the state has been given.

What this means for the market

For Coinbase, it is another step toward removing state-level barriers to a staking product that has been contested in the US for years. For New Jersey users, it means the chance to earn rewards on ETH and other supported assets again.

With four states still in the fight, the legal picture for staking in the US is not uniform. For the live bitcoin price see the daily brief, and for ether the Ethereum page. This is not investment advice.