Only the Beginning: Kraken Expands On-Chain Staking in 39 US States

To help more customers participate in the crypto world, crypto exchange Kraken is launching a new on-chain staking product for US clients in 39 states and territories. 

This is only the beginning for Kraken as the company has announced it wants to expand its on-chain staking product to more states as the service becomes permitted. Currently, clients residing in eligible states will be able to securely stake eligible tokens via Kraken Pro. They can participate in bonded staking, which locks up or “bonds” crypto assets to the network for a specific period of time.

Kraken delegates staked assets to validators, which then handle transaction validation and block production. These validators then pass back rewards, minus fees, to clients who have staked their assets with that validator.

Clients in select US states and territories will now be able to use Kraken’s onchain staking product to stake 17 assets, including ETH, SOL, DOT and ADA. US clients’ assets are also covered by slashing insurance from a third-party provider. Kraken’s restaking integration will also be made available in eligible states.

Success of PoS

The original way of mining cryptocurrencies, Proof-of-Work (PoW) has called the crypto sector’s ethical values into question, with the electricity consumption being extremely high. As a result, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) has grown in popularity.

Now it is used by crypto holders across the world to stake in countless ecosystems. Kraken’s new staking product for US clients helps restore parity between the products and services available to Kraken US clients and those available to Kraken clients in other jurisdictions.

Kraken was the first major centralised exchange to launch on-chain staking in 2019, enabling clients to play a role in securing PoS blockchains. Last year, Kraken made it possible so that clients could restake ETH. This meant projects building on EigenLayer could benefit from the underlying security of Ethereum.

“Launching this new staking product in the US is an overwhelmingly positive development, not just for Kraken but also for the entire US crypto space,” said Mark Greenberg, Kraken global head of consumer.

“We are excited to bring back a brand new product enabling US clients to resume staking with Kraken, and playing a significant role in bolstering the underlying security of blockchain networks.

“Kraken serves as a bridge so people can access the crypto space and participate in an increasingly broad range of related activities from an interface and platform that they’re familiar with. Onchain staking is a key component of how we fulfill this role and we believe the resumption of staking in the US today will play a significant role in the development and mass adoption of crypto.”