Crypto exchange Kraken will “immediately” end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S. customers and pay $30 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges it offered unregistered securities, the U.S. agency announced Thursday.

Payward Ventures, Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd., the registered companies that make up Kraken, will end staking services and programs, the SEC said. The programs offered the general public access to staking services since at least 2019.

In a blog post, Kraken said it would automatically unstake any assets staked by U.S. clients except for staked ether, which won't be unstaked until after the Ethereum Network's Shanghai upgrade takes effect. U.S. clients will also be unable to stake new assets (including ether). Non-U.S. clients are unaffected.

While Kraken’s website offered a 20% yield on its staking service, the SEC press release suggested it may be as high as 21%.

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