Coinbase has announced that New Jersey plans to withdraw its enforcement order against the exchange’s staking service, following more than three years of restrictions on customers adding new assets.
Summary
- New Jersey informed Coinbase on October 29 that it intends to withdraw its enforcement order.
- Existing customers in the state have remained eligible to earn staking rewards, but they have been unable to add new assets.
- Five other states withdrew their staking-related actions against Coinbase in March and April 2025.
- Coinbase’s eligibility page still lists restrictions for New Jersey, and the company has not confirmed when new staking will become available.
According to Coinbase’s quarterly filing, New Jersey’s securities regulator notified the exchange on October 29, 2026, that it intends to rescind its summary penalty and cease-and-desist order.
The disclosure appears in the company’s discussion of state regulatory proceedings involving its staking services.
However, the filing describes a planned withdrawal, not a completed one. Coinbase has not announced when New Jersey residents will be able to stake additional funds. Its customer guidance still lists the state among those with restrictions.
Coinbase’s New Jersey restrictions apply to new staking
According to Coinbase’s eligibility guidance, customers in New Jersey cannot add new funds to staking. However, customers with existing eligible staked balances can continue earning rewards.
Those rewards cannot be restaked or compounded under the current restrictions.
Customers can unstake their assets at any time, but once they withdraw their principal or receive their rewards, they cannot put those funds back into the staking service.
This means some New Jersey residents have continued earning rewards throughout the regulatory dispute, even though they cannot increase their staking positions.
Coinbase currently lists New Jersey alongside California, Maryland, and Wisconsin as states with staking restrictions. Washington appears separately, as residents there remain eligible to stake despite the exchange receiving regulatory notices.
New Jersey’s action dates back to June 2023
The New Jersey Bureau of Securities issued its original order against Coinbase Global and Coinbase Inc. on June 6, 2023.
The regulator alleged that Coinbase offered staking products that needed to be registered under state securities laws.
Staking involves committing cryptocurrency to help support a blockchain network. On proof-of-stake networks, validators process transactions and receive rewards for participating.
The dispute focused on whether Coinbase’s staking service should be treated as a securities offering. Coinbase has consistently challenged that position.
In a July 2023 statement, the company said California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Wisconsin had required it to stop allowing retail customers to add new assets to staking while regulatory proceedings continued. Assets staked before the orders were not affected.
Coinbase said it would follow the preliminary orders while defending its services.
Its quarterly filing also records agreements with those four states in July 2023, followed by a similar agreement with Maryland in October of the same year.
Five states withdrew their Coinbase actions in 2025
New Jersey’s planned withdrawal follows earlier decisions by Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, South Carolina, and Vermont.
Coinbase’s filing shows that regulators in those states dismissed, cancelled, rescinded, or withdrew their actions during March and April 2025.
Alabama dropped its enforcement action in April 2025, leaving five states pursuing staking-related proceedings at that time.
South Carolina also dismissed its case following an agreement between Coinbase and the state attorney general’s securities division. Coinbase said staking became available again through its app and website after that decision.
In an April 2025 statement, Coinbase executive Ryan VanGrack called on the remaining states to end their cases. He argued that the restrictions targeted Coinbase while residents could still access staking through other providers.
At the time, Coinbase estimated that customers in California, New Jersey, Maryland, and Wisconsin had missed out on more than $90 million in rewards. The company did not provide a separate figure for New Jersey.
New York opened staking access in October 2025
Coinbase announced a separate expansion in neighboring New York on October 8, 2025, allowing residents to stake ETH, SOL, and other supported cryptocurrencies through its platform.
In that announcement, the exchange estimated that customers across the four restricted states had missed more than $130 million in potential rewards.
Neither estimate represents compensation promised to affected customers.
Coinbase’s current eligibility rules require users to have an account in good standing, live in an eligible location, and provide the required tax identification information.
The company also reserves the right to change its eligibility requirements, including after customers have already staked their assets.
For now, New Jersey’s planned withdrawal is a step toward potentially restoring access, but customers must wait for the formal regulatory change and an update from Coinbase before adding new assets to staking.