Anchorage Digital – a San-Francisco-headquartered crypto platform that owns the first federally chartered crypto bank -is reportedly rolling out a feature supporting Ethereum (ETH) staking for institutions. 

Specifically, the newly rolled out functionality was released in anticipation of the Ethereum network’s long-promised transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to the proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. 

The intention to introduce ETH staking – a practice of earning rewards for serving as a transaction validator in the Ethereum blockchain – the feature was disclosed by Anchorage on June 28th. Diogo Mónica, co-founder and president of Anchorage Digital, viewed staking as a win-win situation for institutional investors and the ecosystem. 

“By paving the way for institutions to stake their Ethereum, we’re providing heightened legitimacy to market-tested assets—and in the process, eliminating any hot wallet risks for institutions looking to generate new earnings from crypto.”

The announcement reportedly highlighted Anchorage’s high expectations for the anticipating upgrade of the Ethereum network, which aims to link its mainnet with the PoS network, with coordination from the Beacon Chain. 

This functionality should enable investors to collect rewards on their ETH in custody via staking with an Anchorage validator. Following the Merge, validators would earn more than just the block rewards – also the transaction priority fees – which miners take in the previous protocols.

The Beacon Chain was reportedly introduced as included in the scope of Ethereum’s transitory roadmap in December two years ago. In June this year, Ethereum set up the Sepolia testnet, which would start reaching consensus using PoS instead of PoW. 

The official merge date on the Ethereum mainnet has been delayed a few times. It is now commenced for finalization by August this year, but that date could see extra postpone because of a separate delay in the difficulty bomb.