Some $1 billion in crypto — much of it in the form of ETH and other major cryptocurrencies — has been staked by the customer base of exchange service Kraken, the company said Wednesday.
As of the time of writing, 307,904 ETH is being staked via Kraken — an amount worth roughly $360 million. A spokesperson for the exchange told The Block in an email that 58 million DOT and 45.5 million XTZ have also been staked, equating to about $578 million and $120 million, respectively.
During 2020, according to the firm, Kraken’s staking service paid out as much as $27 million in rewards to stakers.
“Whereas three years ago, holders were mainly interested in securing short-term gains, many are now confident locking-up tokens to earn passive income. Why? Conviction is growing in the longevity of crypto-assets as a respectable new asset class,” Jeremy Welch, Kraken’s vice president of product, said in a press statement.
As previously reported by The Block’s Yogita Khatri, exchanges have emerged as significant validating forces on Eth2, with Kraken and Binance accounting for roughly 19% as of late last month. Coinbase has also signaled that it plans to offer an Eth2 staking service sometime in early 2021.
That growth has come in the wake of the so-called Phase 0 launch of Eth2, which will be developed and built upon over a multi-year period.
© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Michael McSweeney
