Gemini offers staking in the lead up to the ETH merger
Important takeaways
- Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced that it will support Polygon (MATIC) staking starting today.
- Support for Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT) and Audius (AUDIO) will be added in the future.
- The service is being introduced as Ethereum prepares for the transition from mining to betting with the “merger”.
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Gemini has announced support for staking, allowing users of the exchange to earn rewards on eligible cryptoassets.
Gemini offers bet
Gemini will support strikes starting today, August 18.
In an announcement, Gemini said users will initially be able to stake and earn rewards on Polygon’s MATIC token. It also said that Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT) and Audius (AUDIO) stakes will be available in the near future.
With the exception of Audius, all of these tokens are among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
The company contrasted efforts with Gemini Earn, another service that generates returns on deposited crypto. While Gemini partners with third-party borrowers for its Earn service, the staking service will receive rewards from blockchain validation.
It is not clear if Gemini plans to run its own validator nodes or if it will work with external validators.
Gemini notes that users who opt for the service will benefit from reduced technical requirements. Gemini will cover infrastructure costs, gas taxes and cut penalties. It also offers an institutional approach to security rather than letting users manage their own keys.
Gemini staking will be available in three countries: Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States (excluding New York).
Franck Kengne, product manager at Gemini, says that the introduction of staking “underlines [Gemini’s] commitment to offer a full package of services. He added that “venture is an important next step” in providing new options for customers.
Gemini is among the oldest and most recognized exchanges. However, trading volumes are relatively low: it only handled $52 million over 24 hours, while its competitors handled hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in the same period.
Today’s news comes as Ethereum prepares for its “Merge”. This event is scheduled for mid-September and will completely transition the network from Proof-of-Work mining to Proof-of-Stake.
Other crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, FTX, Kucoin and Crypto.com, have also introduced staking services in recent months and years. However, Coinbase recently said that it would prefer to discontinue its staking service in the unlikely event that it is forced to censor Ethereum.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies.
