Zero Hash Brings Crypto Staking To Banks And Brokers As…

Zero Hash has launched Staking-as-a-Service for financial institutions, allowing banks, brokerages and fintech platforms to embed cryptocurrency staking directly into their existing applications through a single API integration. Interactive Brokers, Public and BitMart will become the first launch partners, marking another step in the convergence of traditional financial platforms and digital assets.

The new infrastructure enables institutions to offer native staking without operating blockchain validators or managing the technical and regulatory complexity themselves. Instead, Zero Hash handles validator infrastructure, staking operations, rewards accounting and compliance, allowing partners to integrate the service into their existing customer experience through its API.

The launch reflects one of the fastest-growing trends in digital assets. Crypto platforms increasingly compete not only on trading but also on yield-generating services that encourage customers to keep assets within their ecosystem. For traditional brokerages and banks expanding into digital assets, staking has become an important product alongside custody, trading and stablecoin services.

Staking Is Becoming Part Of The Standard Digital Asset Product Suite

For years, retail crypto adoption centered primarily on buying and selling digital assets. Today, institutions increasingly view staking as another portfolio service rather than a specialist crypto activity.

Staking allows holders of proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies to lock tokens in blockchain validation networks in return for staking rewards. The process helps secure blockchain networks while generating income for participants.

Ethereum remains the largest staking market following its transition to proof-of-stake in 2022. According to public blockchain data, more than 35 million ETH are currently staked, representing roughly 28% of the circulating supply. At current market values, that corresponds to well over $100 billion committed to securing the Ethereum network.

Zero Hash’s platform launches with Ethereum support, while Solana staking is expected to follow.

Unlike many existing staking providers, Zero Hash said its infrastructure has no minimum staking requirements, allowing customers to stake or unstake any amount of supported assets.

Brokerages Are Under Pressure To Expand Crypto Offerings

The announcement is driven by changing customer expectations rather than blockchain technology alone.

Zero Hash cited its own Crypto in the Future Wealth Report, which found that a majority of affluent investors would consider moving their assets if their existing financial platform failed to offer integrated cryptocurrency products.

The company also referenced PwC’s 2025 Digital Assets survey, which found that 27% of retail crypto investors actively use staking as a core investment strategy, approaching the popularity of automated savings products at 31%.

Those figures help explain why traditional brokers increasingly compete with crypto-native exchanges. Digital asset functionality has evolved from a niche offering into a broader client retention strategy.

Edward Woodford, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zero Hash, said traditional finance and crypto are increasingly competing for the same customers.

“There is continued accelerating convergence of traditional platforms and crypto, where they are increasingly becoming indistinguishable from a product perspective and competing for the same customer accounts. By launching a fully compliant Staking-as-a-Service solution with zero minimum thresholds, we are enabling banks, brokerage and wealth platforms to seamlessly drive user retention and unlock new revenue streams.”

Interactive Brokers Continues Expanding Beyond Crypto Trading

The announcement also represents another milestone in Interactive Brokers’ broader digital asset strategy.

The brokerage recently expanded its artificial intelligence capabilities by integrating ChatGPT and Grok into its trading ecosystem while extending AI-generated order instructions to options, futures and futures options. It has also steadily expanded cryptocurrency trading through partnerships with digital asset infrastructure providers rather than building every service internally.

Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Brokers, said staking complements broader portfolio management.

“We believe investors should be able to manage their digital assets in a way that’s integrated with their broader portfolio. Staking gives investors an additional way to earn yield on digital assets and we look forward to offering this alongside the broad range of products and markets available through the Interactive Brokers platform in the near future.”

Zero Hash currently provides infrastructure for cryptocurrency trading, stablecoins and tokenized assets across multiple financial products. The company says it operates regulated entities across all 51 U.S. jurisdictions together with regulatory footprints covering Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Bermuda.

FinanceFeeds recently reported on Interactive Brokers’ expansion of AI-powered trading capabilities, MoonPay’s acquisition of Entendre to automate digital asset finance operations, Galaxy Digital’s investment in institutional crypto lending infrastructure, Broadridge’s expansion of tokenization capabilities, and Payward’s continued regulatory expansion. Together, these announcements illustrate how competition has shifted away from simply offering crypto trading toward providing a full suite of institutional-grade digital asset services.

Infrastructure Providers Are Competing To Become The Crypto Backend For Traditional Finance

The bigger trend is the growing separation between customer-facing financial brands and the infrastructure powering them. Rather than developing blockchain validators, custody systems, compliance tools and staking operations internally, banks and brokerages increasingly rely on specialist infrastructure providers.

That model resembles the evolution of payment processing over the past two decades. Consumers interact with familiar financial brands while much of the underlying technology is delivered by specialist providers operating behind the scenes.

For infrastructure providers such as Zero Hash, success depends less on attracting retail investors directly and more on becoming the technology layer powering hundreds of financial institutions. For banks and brokerages, the appeal is faster product expansion without having to build specialist blockchain expertise internally.