When Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) carried out The Merge last year, it was widely hailed as one of the crowning achievements for the crypto industry. As part of The Merge, Ethereum transformed from a proof-of-work blockchain into a proof-of-stake blockchain. That had immediate implications for retail crypto investors as they could now stake their Ethereum and earn passive income.

But there's just one little problem: There's something about staking that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) doesn't like. On Feb. 9, the SEC levied a $30 million penalty against cryptocurrency exchange Kraken for its "staking-as-a-service" platform.

Understandably, there's a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about what the SEC's anti-staking stance means for Ethereum, given how important it is to the crypto's business model. There are positive and negative scenarios to consider.

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Source Fool.com