<p>This is a great question. I was thinking a very similar thought the other day. However, I am thinking it has to be exchanges.</p>
<p>This is speculation but I would imagine staking someone else's Ada posses a legal risk. I don't think it would be far fetched for someone to file an Antitrust law on them for doing so (at least in the U.S). This is also why I think Binance US doesn't allow staking Ada.</p>
<p>Again, this is speculation, but it is what I have came up with as the reasoning.</p>
<p>I hope it helps! And please correct me if any of this is known to be false.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-10T19:09:22.413Z
I would agree completely if it weren't for the ~60 or so fully saturated pools that Binance operates on mainnet. Maybe they have some special legal provisions that other exchanges don't have, but for some reason I doubt it. I'm also speculating, but there's no way they own >3B ADA.
zhekson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-10T19:11:29.537Z
You are on the same brainwave as me. I was thinking that Binance is for sure staking US wallets and not rewarding them. But I am thinking Coinbase and other exchanges, maybe?
Jacob - SNOWY Pool
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-12T16:34:59.733Z
Gonna have to try and get this one in on one of Charles' next AMA's :)
zhekson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-10T19:06:05.960Z
2021-11-10T19:06:05.960Z
Jacob - SNOWY Pool
<p>Sorry if the question seems trivial/silly, but where is the ~10B ADA that is not actively staked? It seems like any actor (individual, business, exchange, etc) has every incentive to stake their ADA. Even if a lot of people are holding their ADA on exchanges, I would expect that exchange to stake it for them and reap the rewards... so what gives?</p>
<p>(Perhaps we can exclude the ~700 million that is in the catalyst treasury, but still its a a LOT of unstaked ADA.</p>

<staking>
Where is all the unstaked ADA?
# Where is all the unstaked ADA?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-11-10)

Sorry if the question seems trivial/silly, but where is the ~10B ADA that is not actively staked? It seems like any actor (individual, business, exchange, etc) has every incentive to stake their ADA. Even if a lot of people are holding their ADA on exchanges, I would expect that exchange to stake it for them and reap the rewards... so what gives?

(Perhaps we can exclude the ~700 million that is in the catalyst treasury, but still its a a LOT of unstaked ADA.

**Tags:** staking

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-11-10. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

This is a great question. I was thinking a very similar thought the other day. However, I am thinking it has to be exchanges.

This is speculation but I would imagine staking someone else's Ada posses a legal risk. I don't think it would be far fetched for someone to file an Antitrust law on them for doing so (at least in the U.S). This is also why I think Binance US doesn't allow staking Ada.

Again, this is speculation, but it is what I have came up with as the reasoning.

I hope it helps! And please correct me if any of this is known to be false.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I would agree completely if it weren't for the ~60 or so fully saturated pools that Binance operates on mainnet. Maybe they have some special legal provisions that other exchanges don't have, but for some reason I doubt it. I'm also speculating, but there's no way they own >3B ADA.  
> **username_1**: You are on the same brainwave as me. I was thinking that Binance is for sure staking US wallets and not rewarding them. But I am thinking Coinbase and other exchanges, maybe?  
> **username_0**: Gonna have to try and get this one in on one of Charles' next AMA's :)  

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