Swiss Sygnum Bank expands crypto efforts with Cardano

Cryptocurrency-friendly bank Sygnum Bank continues to expand its crypto services by launching support for Cardano (ADA) staking.

Sygnum announced on Tuesday that the firm has expanded its bank-grade staking offering with Cardano, allowing customers to generate rewards by staking ADA via the bank’s institutional platform.

ADA joins Sygnum’s growing crypto-staking portfolio, which features three proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols; Internet computing, Tezos and soon, Ethereum 2.0.

According to the announcement, staking services form an integral part of Sygnum’s platform and are available to customers through the bank’s eBanking platform. The services are fully integrated with Sygnum’s banking platform, which is designed to provide institutional security using segregated wallets, secure private key management and other tools.

Staking is the process of participating in the validation of transactions on a PoS blockchain in exchange for stake rewards. Unlike proof-of-work (PoW) networks like Bitcoin, PoS blockchains do not require mining activity and instead rely on users locking their coins to maintain a network.

Sygnum, a major regulated bank in Switzerland, debuted cryptocurrency staking about two years ago, launching Tezos staking in November 2020. Sygnum also announced in July 2021 that it would offer Ethereum 2.0 staking on its platform.

The addition of Cardano’s stake in Sygnum will increase exposure to the digital asset for many institutional investors. After a tenfold increase in gross revenue in 2021, Sygnum’s institutional customer base approached 1,000 in early 2022, the firm announced in January.

“This new offering allows Sygnum’s customers to participate in our ecosystem, where they enjoy a risk-free staking experience without having to transfer the asset or lock it,” said Cardano Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard. He added that Cardano’s architecture also provides both retail and institutional customers with a unique opportunity for ADA holders. “You always have control over your ADA,” he noted.

Related: Ethereum’s staking service Lido announces Layer 2 expansion

In the midst of the upcoming Cardano Vasil hard fork, many crypto companies have been working on Cardano-focused services. In late July, major hardware wallet company Ledger announced the integration of 100 Cardano tokens on the Ledger Live wallet software.

The Cardano Vasil hard fork is expected to significantly improve the Cardano network in terms of speed and scalability, making it more suitable for smart contracts and decentralized applications. After failing to go live in June, the Cardano Vasil hard fork was delayed again in July. According to Input Output Global, it could take another “few weeks” to proceed with the fork itself.