In response to growing institutional demand, Fireblocks has launched an integration with Lido to provide easy and secure in-platform access to Lido’s liquid staking protocol and stETH token.
Users can now stake their ETH, receive rewards, and “use stETH for on-chain activities, including Fireblocks Off Exchange, which allows Fireblocks users to lock their stETH in a self-custodial collateral wallet to trade on exchanges like Deribit and Bybit.”
Liquid staking enables users “to transfer and operationalize staked tokens without the firm requirements that lock up assets for stakers on the Ethereum network.”
It allows users to deposit tokens and “receive tradable liquid tokens (stETH) in return, thereby unlocking the ability to receive staking rewards while maintaining liquidity and access to their assets.”
Liquid staking with Lido may be useful “for institutional ETH holders and can provide the ability to stake without the requirement of maintaining complex staking infrastructure.”
While Ethereum direct-stakers must stake in increments “of 32 ETH, liquid staking allows users to stake any amount of ETH, with the ability to access instant liquidity.”
This flexibility also benefits retail-facing exchanges and fintechs, “whose end users might have less than 32 ETH but want to realize the benefits of ETH staking.”
Those with larger ETH positions can unlock capital efficiency “through liquid staking, leveraging their staked ETH tokens (stETH) for on-chain activities.”
With the Lido integration, Fireblocks customers can “stake their ETH without locking it up or having to maintain complex infrastructure – all while still participating in on-chain activities and receiving network rewards from their staked ETH.”
As noted in the update, Lido is an open-source, liquid-staking middleware “that provides a way to participate in the blockchain network validation process and reap rewards for this activity.”
With a mission to democratize staking, Lido middleware lets users “connect with node operators and stake their digital assets without the need to individually maintain hardware. Lido users can interact with various third-party DeFi applications that have independently integrated and support the liquid staking tokens.”
As covered, Fireblocks is a platform “to create new blockchain based products, and manage day-to-day digital asset operations.”
Exchanges, banks, PSPs, lending desks, custodians, trading desks, and hedge funds can securely scale their digital asset operations “through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure.”
Fireblocks serves thousands of organizations in the financial, payments, and web3 space, has secured “the transfer of over $4 trillion in digital assets and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. Find out why CISOs and Ops Teams love Fireblocks.”
