Sygnum becomes first bank in the world to offer Eth2 staking

Crypto-focussed Swiss bank, Sygnum Bank, has announced it has become the first bank in the world to allow its clients to stake Ether.

According to the July 6 blog post, the firm’s clients can now stake ETH through Sygnum’s institutional banking platform to earn yields of up to seven percent annually.

Sygnum describes itself as the “world’s first digital asset bank,” having secured a banking licence in Switzerland and a capital markets services license in Singapore during August 2019 and October 2019 respectively.

The firm asserts that “the vast majority of decentralized products and services run on Ethereum,” noting the DeFi sector’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has grown by more than three times since the start of 2021:

“With Ethereum powering the exponential growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, staking is a compelling choice for long-term Ethereum investors also seeking attractive yields.”

Thomas Eichenberger, Sygnum’s head of business units, described Ethereum staking as “a core element for digital asset portfolios.”

Sygnum launched a staking service for Tezos (XTZ) in November 2020, and has offered a fixed term deposit product for its Digital Swiss Franc stablecoin, DCHF, since March.

The bank faces competition from many crypto-native staking providers and centralized exchanges, including leading U.S. firms Coinbase and Kraken.

The digital asset bank is also looking to support DeFi assets, launching regulated banking services for eight leading tokens including UNI, MKR, and CRV last month.

According to Staking Rewards, Eth2 is currently the second-largest Proof-of-Stake network by staked capitalization with $13.5 billion, despite only 5% of circulating Ether currently having been locked for staking.

Cardano (ADA) has the largest staked capitalization with $31.8 billion and 70.7% of supply currently locked.

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