Swiss Sygnum Bank expands crypto bet with Cardano

Crypto-friendly bank Sygnum Bank continues to expand its cryptocurrency services with the launch of support for Cardano staking (ADA).

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

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

According to the announcement, staking services are 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 enterprise-grade security by implementing segregated wallets, secure private key management and other tools.

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

A large controlled bank in Switzerland, Sygnum made its cryptocurrency staking debut about two years ago, launch Tezos is staking in November 2020. Sygnum also announced in July 2021 that it will offer Ethereum 2.0 staking on its platform.

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

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

Related: Ethereum betting service Lido announces layer-2 expansion

Within the upcoming Cardano Vasil hard fork, several crypto companies are working on Cardano-focused services. In late July, major hardware wallet company Ledger was announced the integration of 100 Cardano tokens into 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, following up with the actual fork could take another “few weeks.”