New Jersey drops staking lawsuit against Coinbase, clearing path for users to resume

The state lifted its order against Coinbase's staking service, which had been off-limits to New Jersey residents since June 2023 New Jersey has dropped its staking lawsuit against Coinbase and lifted the order that kept residents out of the exchange’s staking program. Users in the Garden State should be able to start staking again soon. They’ve been locked out since June 6, 2023. The cost of that pause was real. New Jersey users are estimated to have missed out on at least $15 million in staking rewards while the order was in effect. What happened and what it cost The fight started in 2023. That year the SEC and several states went after Coinbase, arguing that its staking product amounted to an offering of unregistered securities. New Jersey’s piece of that campaign was a cease-and-desist order, which is now gone. Coinbase handles the technical work for customers who don’t want to run their own validator setups. Regulators argued that arrangement looked a lot like an investment contract. Coinbase argued it was a service. That disagreement has now cost New Jersey users an estimated $15 million in rewards they never collected. Zoom out further and the number grows. The broader impact...