SEBA Bank Enables Ether Staking as Merge Nears

Swiss-regulated crypto platform SEBA Bank has implemented ether staking services for large clients ahead of the network’s anticipated Merge event later this month.

The touted institutional-grade offering allows its users to generate rewards on their ether holdings on a monthly basis, the bank said in a statement.

Variable lock-up periods will be instituted post-merge. No staked ether can be withdrawn from Ethereum’s Beacon Chain until after a subsequent network upgrade, dubbed Shanghai, expected in the second quarter of 2023.

The Beacon Chain merging with its Mainnet, on track to trigger around Sept. 15, is one of the most hotly anticipated and significant developments in the project’s history.

The event lays the groundwork to increase network scalability and security while reducing its carbon footprint by transitioning to Proof-of-Stake — believed to cut energy consumption by more than 99%.

A transition to PoS will do away with miners securing the network, instead replaced by validators who put at stake ether for the privilege. Currently, there are around 422,000 validators worldwide, staking 13.5 million ether (or around $20.5 billion at today’s prices).

Those depositing more than 32 ETH (about $48,500) to SEBA will have a validator activated on their behalf, in this case, managed by the bank itself.

“The launch of our Ethereum staking services will enable institutional investors to play a key role in securing the future of the network,” Mathias Schutz, the bank’s head of technology and client solutions, said in the statement.

Ether rewards on SEBA join the bank’s existing PoS offerings which include Cardano, Polkadot and Tezos, first introduced to market in October of last year with the rollout of its Earn product.

Initially spun up by former employees of investment banking platform UBS, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)-regulated entity offers custody and crypto storage solutions to large clients.

It became the country’s first firm to receive an institutional CISA license by FINMA, almost a year ago, enabling it to offer custody solutions to Swiss mutual funds and investment schemes utilizing liquid crypto.

Earlier this year, the bank raised CHF 110 million ($111 million) in Series C funding to bolster growth. That round was co-led by a consortium of blockchain and fintech investors alongside participation from crypto exchange FTX, according to a separate statement.