Switzerland’s SEBA Bank Launches Institutional Ethereum Staking

SEBA bank, a crypto-friendly bank in Zug, Switzerland, announced the launch of Ethereum (ETH) staking for its institutional investors.

The move “caters to growing demand from institutions to manage a range of digital asset yield use cases from staking to decentralized finance (DeFi)” by providing flexible rewards and adjustable lock-up periods following Ethereum’s merge event, the bank said.

The merge, anticipated as early as next week, will transition Ethereum from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and is expected to use 99.95% less energy. 

SEBA added that it will ensure “round the clock access” to clients’ staked Ethereum ahead of the merge. The staking program comes with insurance and requires a certain amount of capital to enter the pool.

In 2019, the bank was awarded a provisional banking and securities dealer license by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which gives SEBA full legal power to integrate crypto into its banking system.

Decrypt reached out to SEBA but has yet to receive a reply at press time.

SEBA joins Ethereum stakers

Many leading industry firms are turning to Ethereum staking ahead of Ethereum’s biggest upgrade yet.

Coinbase, a leading crypto exchange, launched Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH). The exchange tweeted that cbETH is a utility token of “ETH2, which is ETH staked through Coinbase” and represents ETH plus accrued staked interest.

Ethereum mining pool Ethermine, one of the largest pools in the industry, will also offer staking services, letting users stake as little as 0.1 ETH in a collective pool.

On Wednesday, Binance.US launched a high-yield staking pool to its users, offering a starting rate of 6% annual percentage yield.