Institutional clients can access the value of their crypto even while staking.
Key Takeaways
Blockdaemon and Stakewise have announced Harbor, a liquid staking service for ETH and the Ethereum blockchain.
Institutional clients who stake their crypto will receive a derivative token that they can use in certain DeFi protocols.
Though few other institutional liquid taking services exist, Alluvial and Lido are among Harbor’s competitors.
Share this article
Two notable blockchain firms have announced the launch of Harbor, a liquid staking protocol for the Ethereum blockchain.
Harbor Is Now Live on Mainnet
Blockdaemon and StakeWise launched Harbor’s mainnet version this week on Jun. 6 following an earlier testnet phase in March.
Harbor offers a staking service aimed at financial institutions and tech companies. Unlike other cryptocurrency staking methods, Harbor’s approach gives clients the ability to earn staking rewards without losing access to their funds during a lockup period.
Harbor will initially work with the Ethereum blockchain and accept deposits of its native cryptocurrency token, ETH.
Participants who stake ETH will receive the derivative Harbor token. They can use these tokens with permissioned DeFi platforms for lending, borrowing, options writing, and interest rate swaps.
Harbor also aims to be fully secure and compliant with regulations. Its userbase will be made up of KYC-approved participants. Slashing insurance, multiple code audits, and fully secured smart contract keys will additionally ensure that funds remain safe.
Blockdaemon founder and CEO Konstantin Richter emphasized Harbor’s unique approach, calling it “the first ETH institutional-grade liquid staking solution available in the market today.”
StakeWise co-founder Kirill Kutakov likewise said that the Harbor’s launch marks the “first time traditional institutions can participate in staking and DeFi on the terms they are accustomed to.”
Liquid Staking Is on the Rise
Though few other staking services offer liquid staking as Harbor at the moment, other services with competing features are on the way. Coinbase Cloud and Figment are backing a liquid staking project called Alluvial, which was still under development as of May.
Non-institutional liquid staking services are also popular. Lido, a DeFi platform, accounts for a large share of liquid staking on Ethereum. Rocket Pool is another highly-regarded alternative.
Still, Harbor will likely attract plenty of value thanks to the funds accrued by its operators so far.
StakeWise claims to have 50,000 ETH ($93 million) delegated to its validators to date. Blockdaemon, on the other hand, claims to have $11 billion delegated to its own validators.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
Share this article
The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
