Sygnum Becomes World’s First Bank to Provide Eth2 Staking Services

According to a July 6 blog post, the company’s clients can now stake ETH through Sygnum’s institutional banking platform and earn up to 7% annual yield.

Sygnum, which calls itself the “world’s first digital asset bank,” received a banking license in Switzerland in August 2019 and a capital markets services license in Singapore in October 2019.

The firm claims that “the vast majority of decentralized products and services run on Ethereum,” noting that the total value locked (TVL) in the DeFi space has more than quadrupled since the beginning of 2021:

“As Ethereum drives exponential growth in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, staking is a compelling option for long-term Ethereum investors seeking attractive yields.”

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

Sygnum launched Tezos (XTZ) staking services in November 2020 and has offered a term deposit product for its digital Swiss franc stablecoin DCHF since March.

The bank faces competition from a number of local crypto staking providers and centralized exchanges, including leading U.S. firms Coinbase and Kraken

The digital asset bank is also looking to support DeFi assets, having launched 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 with a staked market cap of $13.5 billion, although only 5% of all ETH in circulation is currently locked up.

Cardano (ADA) has the largest staked market cap at $31.8 billion, with 70.7% of the supply currently locked.