The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance stated in its May 2025 staff guidance that node operators, validators, custodians, delegates, and nominators are included among those whose staking activities are not considered securities transactions

Event date

May 29, 2025

Quotes that support claims

The division said its view applies to staking of "covered crypto assets" on proof-of-stake networks, activities of third-party service providers such as custodians and node operators, and ancillary services.

Node operators and validators, custodians, delegates, nominators and entities staking assets either on their own, staking directly with a third party or staking on behalf of an asset's owners fall into this bucket, the staff statement said. In this, the SEC seems to suggest that staking will be treated identically to mining, the consensus mechanism securing networks like Bitcoin, which the SEC clarified also did not implicate securities laws in a similar staff statement last month.

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Week 22 of 2025