Coinbase has renewed its public defense of crypto staking in the United States, arguing that state-level restrictions continue to prevent users in several jurisdictions from accessing yield opportunities tied to digital asset staking. While the broader regulatory climate has improved in recent months, the company says meaningful barriers remain for customers in four states, with the financial cost now exceeding $90 million in missed rewards.
Four states remain at the center of the dispute
According to Coinbase, users in California, New Jersey, Maryland, and Wisconsin have been unable to fully access staking services through its platform since June 2023. In a statement shared on X, the exchange said that although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and five states have dropped their staking-related lawsuits, residents in those four states are still being denied participation in staking programs.
The company framed the issue as both a consumer rights matter and a broader policy debate about how crypto services should be regulated in the United States. Coinbase said the estimated losses in missed rewards continue to grow, underscoring that the impact is not merely theoretical but directly affects users who would otherwise be earning returns on eligible crypto holdings.
Breakdown of the estimated missed rewards
Coinbase provided a state-by-state estimate of the forgone rewards. Users in Wisconsin have missed about $3 million in staking rewards since June 2023, while users in Maryland have lost roughly $5 million. In New Jersey, the estimated missed rewards total around $12 million. The largest share comes from California, where users have been unable to collect nearly $71 million in staking income.
Combined, those figures push the estimated total above $90 million, and Coinbase emphasized that the tally is still increasing as restrictions remain in force. At the same time, the company noted that users who have staked assets through Coinbase have not lost those assets on the platform, a point clearly intended to counter arguments that staking services have inherently exposed retail customers to unacceptable risk.
Regulatory momentum has shifted, but not everywhere
Coinbase said that the SEC and more than 40 states now allow its users to stake crypto, reflecting a significant change from the more aggressive enforcement environment that shaped the market over the past two years. That shift has been reinforced by a series of state-level reversals.
Five states have officially withdrawn their staking-related legal actions against the company: Vermont, South Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, and Alabama. Alabama was the most recent to step back, with the Alabama Securities Commission dismissing its case on April 23. Coinbase highlighted the move as evidence that regulators are beginning to reassess earlier legal positions as the policy environment evolves.
In explaining its decision, Alabama cited ongoing collaborative efforts between the SEC and the crypto industry to develop clearer regulatory frameworks. That language is notable because it signals a willingness, at least in some jurisdictions, to move away from litigation-first approaches and toward rules-based supervision.
SEC retreat reshaped the legal landscape
A major turning point came earlier when the SEC dismissed its federal lawsuit against Coinbase in February. That action marked a substantial change in direction and appears to have encouraged several states to revisit their own cases. For Coinbase, the SEC’s retreat has become a central argument in favor of restoring staking access nationwide.
The company’s messaging suggests that it sees the remaining restrictions not as isolated legal disagreements, but as outdated barriers that persist despite the broader shift in federal and state attitudes. In Coinbase’s view, once the federal pressure eased, the logic for maintaining state-level limitations weakened as well.
Why Coinbase says staking matters
Coinbase continues to argue that staking is not simply a yield product, but an important component of blockchain infrastructure. The company says staking helps secure networks and gives users a way to participate more directly in the operation of proof-of-stake ecosystems. From that perspective, restricting access affects both individual financial outcomes and participation in the underlying crypto economy.
By emphasizing that millions of dollars in rewards have been missed, Coinbase is also trying to reframe the debate around consumer harm. Rather than accepting the premise that restrictions protect users, the company is arguing that preventing staking can itself create financial disadvantage for crypto holders who are blocked from earning on assets they already own.
The next phase of the staking debate
The latest update shows clear progress for Coinbase, but not a complete resolution. Much of the United States now appears more open to staking services than it was in 2023, yet the continued restrictions in four states demonstrate that the regulatory patchwork is far from gone. Whether California, New Jersey, Maryland, and Wisconsin eventually reverse course may determine how fully staking rights are restored across the country.
For now, Coinbase’s position remains firm: it intends to keep fighting until users in every state can access crypto staking. As the legal environment continues to evolve, the company is betting that recent regulatory reversals will build momentum toward a more uniform national approach. Until that happens, the debate over staking in America will remain shaped not only by federal policy, but by the decisions of individual states still holding out.