South Carolina dismisses its staking lawsuit against Coinbase, joining Vermont
South Carolina has become the latest US state to dismiss its lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase over its staking services, which had accused the crypto exchange of offering unregistered securities.
The lawsuit was officially dismissed in a joint stipulation between the crypto exchange and the South Carolina Attorney General’s securities division on March 27.
“South Carolina just joined Vermont to dismiss its unfounded staking lawsuit against Coinbase,” the firm’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said in a March 27 X post.
“This is not just a victory for us, but for American consumers and we hope it’s a sign of things to come in the few states left that restrict staking.”
South Carolina Attorney General and Coinbase’s joint stipulation. Source: South Carolina Attorney General
South Carolina and Vermont were two of 10 US states that took legal action against Coinbase’s staking services on June 6, 2023 — the same day that the federal securities regulator filed its lawsuit against the crypto exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission officially dismissed that lawsuit on Feb. 27, 2025.
The other eight US states that filed enforcement action similar to South Carolina were Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington and Wisconsin.
Grewal said he hoped to see other states follow suit, and that South Carolina residents lost an estimated $2 million in staking rewards as a result of the lawsuit.
“The 52 million Americans who own crypto deserve commonsense consumer protections and clear rules,” he said. “We applaud South Carolina for standing up for justice and hope the remaining states with bans on staking will take notice.”
South Carolina introduces Bitcoin reserve bill
Meanwhile, a state lawmaker has just introduced the “Strategic Digital Assets Reserve Act of South Carolina” on March 27, which could see the state treasurer allocate up to 10% of certain state funds to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).
Unlike most US state crypto reserve bills, North Carolina’s House Bill 4256, introduced by Rep. Jordan Pace, mentioned Bitcoin on several occasions for the Strategic Digital Assets Reserve that the bill seeks to establish.
Source: Jordan Pace
The bill allows South Carolina’s treasurer, currently Curtis Loftis, to establish a Bitcoin reserve that exceeds no more than 1 million Bitcoin — a high ceiling that the US federal government is also looking to reach or exceed with its recently established Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The treasurer would be able to add Bitcoin to South Carolina’s General Fund, the Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund any other investment fund that they manage.
Related: Coinbase files FOIA to see how much the SEC’s ‘war on crypto’ cost
While no mention of stablecoins, non-fungible tokens, Ether (ETH) or any other crypto tokens was made, the House bill said the Strategic Digital Assets Reserve wouldn’t be limited to Bitcoin.
According to Bitcoin Law, 42 Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced at the state level in 19 states, and 36 of those 42 bills remain live.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, both of which will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.
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Politics
Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget
Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.
Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.
Politics Hub: Catch up on the latest
Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.
Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.
“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”
Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.
“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”
Read more:
Reeves won’t rule out tax rises
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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”
He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.
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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France
Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.
Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.
Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.
With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.
The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.
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