Key Takeaway
- Gemini is a major cryptocurrency exchange with its headquarters in New York City. On Thursday, Gemini announced that it had launched a staking program called “Gemini Staking.”
- This program enables customers to stake their assets within their Gemini accounts and earn rewards or interest on those assets.
- The service makes it possible for investors to stake any amount of cryptocurrency without incurring any costs, and they will get staking rewards in their Gemini accounts.
Gemini has announced that customers can already begin staking MATIC on the Polygon network. Plans to support Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), and Audius (AUDIO) are scheduled to take place the following month after the Merge is live.
According to Layla Amjadi, Vice President of Product at Gemini, the most important factor in the decision to offer the company’s staking services was the enthusiasm shown by clients as a result of the Merge.
According to Amjadi,
“It is now apparent than it has ever been that people are interested in staking, particularly now that we are on the edge of the Ethereum Merge. People are becoming increasingly interested in staking as a result of Ethereum becoming a staking option for them on Gemini soon and after the Merge, as well as the increased liquidity and greater yields that come with it.”
Gemini characterized the concept of staking in the following way in a statement:
“Staking is key to Proof-of-Stake consensus systems, whereby users promise crypto to authenticate transactions on a blockchain network safely. Users who have staked their cryptocurrency will receive tokens as a reward after completing the validation process.”
Gemini has said that the staking service is available to users in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States of America (except for the state of New York, which has regulations that prevent staking).
According to the company, the staking program ensures the safety of consumers’ staked assets by compensating them for any penalties inflicted on their staked tokens by unscrupulous validators. Gemini is responsible for paying any costs incurred throughout the staking and de-staking procedures.
More People Interested to Stake Cryptos
After launching its Gemini Earn product, Gemini stated that staking is the second yield-generating product it has introduced. Gemini Earn is an interest-earning program introduced by the exchange in February of the previous year. This program allows clients to earn up to 7.4% annual percentage yield (APY) on bitcoins. There are significant distinctions in how yields are generated for clients’ cryptocurrency holdings, even though clients can earn a yield on their cryptocurrency holdings through either Staking or Earn.
Gemini’s launch of staking comes at a time when other cryptocurrency companies are working to establish their offers to provide retail and institutional clients with the opportunity to receive staking incentives.
At the beginning of this month, Coinbase launched an Ethereum staking service aimed specifically at institutional customers in the United States.
Binance.US began its staking service in June to outperform other cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, such as Gemini, Kraken, BlockFi, and Coinbase.
The US staking program allows users to lock digital assets to support Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains. These blockchains include Livepeer (LPT), the Graph (GRT), Solana (SOL), Cosmos (ATOM), Audius (AUDIO), BNB Chain (BNB), and Avalanche. The US staking program promises up to 18% Annual Percentage Yield (APY), allowing users to lock in cryptos.
Bitstamp began offering staking to its retail and institutional customers in the United States in June. This comes when investors look for alternatives due to low rates and inflation.