Staking cryptocurrency has become a popular method for crypto investors to earn “interest income” on their digital asset holdings.
In this article, you will be introduced to the concept of staking, how staking-as-a-service platforms work, and a guide to the best staking service providers in 2021.
What is Staking?
In the cryptocurrency world, staking refers to “locking up” a digital asset by “staking” it to secure a blockchain network. In exchange for helping to secure the network, participants who stake their coins receive a share in the block reward in the form of newly minted coins.
Staking is an integral part of a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Proof-of-Stake requires network participants to stake the network’s native asset to achieve distributed consensus. Block rewards are attributed to stakers using a combination of random selection and the size of the stake (measured by the number of tokens) that have been provided.
Unlike its predecessor, the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm, which has been made popular by Bitcoin, PoS does not require machines to make energy-intense calculations to solve a puzzle. As a result, PoS is considered a more environmentally-friendly alternative, and many consider it the future of consensus protocols.
What Are Staking-as-a-Service Platforms?
Staking-as-a-Service platforms enable crypto investors to stake their stakable PoS digital assets via a third-party service that takes care of the technical aspect of the staking process. For this service, platforms charge a fee – usually a percentage of the staking rewards.
The idea behind Staking-as-a-Service platforms is to enable anyone – even those without technical knowledge – to take part in the staking economy.
They lower the (technological) barriers to entry so that anyone can earn tokens by providing them as a stake in a PoS network. The use of third-party staking services is often referred to as “soft staking.”
In addition to pure staking-as-a-service platforms, several leading exchanges have also launched staking services dubbed “exchange staking.”
Exchange staking enables investors to leave their PoS stakable assets in their trading account’s wallets to earn “interest” in the form of fresh tokens. The exchange handles the technical side of the process and (usually) charges a small percentage fee for that service.
List of Staking-as-a-Service Providers
To help you find a service provider that you could potentially use to soft-stake cryptocurrency, we have composed a list of the most reputable staking-as-a-service platforms.
We have split our list into staking-only platforms and leading crypto exchanges that also offer staking.
Top 7 Staking Service Providers
Canadian staking-as-a-service provider Figment Network offers “institutional grade infrastructure, software, and tools for token holders and stake-based blockchains.”
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Ethereum (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), Tezos (XTZ), Livepeer (LPT), Chainlink (LINK), Cosmos (ATOM), Solana (SOL), ICON (ICX), Algorand (ALGO), Aion (AION), and Kava (KAVA)
Staking Fees: 0 – 15%
Estonia-based MyCointainer is a regulated staking-as-a-service provider that enables crypto investors to soft stake a wide range of PoS coins via an easy-to-use online platform.
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Phore (PHR), PinkCoin (PINK), Bitbay (BAY), CloakCoin (CLOAK), PIVX (PIVX), Particl (PART), NavCoin (NAV), OKCash (OK), Wagerr (WGR), BlackCoin (BLK) and many more.
Staking Fees: 0% – 28%
France-based Stake Capital “provides financial instruments and services on top of the leading DeFi and staking networks.”
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Loom Network (LOOM), Cosmos (ATOM), Livepeer (LPT), Idex (IDEX), Tezos (XTZ), Kava (KAVA), Aion (AION) and many more coming soon.
Staking Fees: 0% – 10%
South Korea-based Stake.Fish is a leading staking-as-a-service service that enables users to soft stake several different stakable assets.
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Alogrand (ALGO), Cosmos (ATOM), Livepeer (LPT), Tezos (XTZ), Cardano (ADA), Kava (KAVA), Solana (SOL) and Aion (AION)
Staking Fees: 10% – 20%
New York-based Staked “helps institutional investors reliably and securely compound their crypto by 5% – 100% annually through staking and lending.”
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Tezos (XTZ), Livepeer (LPT), Decred (DCR), and Cosmos (ATOM)
Staking Fees: 0% – 54%
Germany-based Stakinglab is a leading European staking-as-a-service provider that enables users to soft stake and host masternodes for a variety of stakable digital assets.
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Phore (PHR), PIVX (PIVX), Reddcoin (RDD)
Staking Fees: 7.5%
Germany-based Staking Facilities provides an enterprise-grade validator infrastructure for blockchain investors who want to stake PoS assets to (potentially) earn investment income on their digital assets.
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Tezos (XTZ), Cosmos (ATOM), Aion (AION)
Staking Fees: 5% – 20%
Stakewith.us
Based in Singapore, Stakewith.us is a staking infrastructure provider that allows users to stake their crypto assets to earn high-yield staking rewards via a self-service interface.
Founded: 2019
Stakable Assets: Kyber network (KNC), Cosmos (ATOM), Terra (LUNA), Kava (KAVA), Band Protocol (BAND) and IOV (IOV).
Staking Fees: 10%
P2P Validator
George Town-based P2P Validator is a non-custodial staking-as-a-service platform, giving users access to more than 25 networks to stake their assets.
Founded: 2018
Major Stakable Assets: Ethereum (ETH), Cosmos (ATOM), Polkadot (DOT), Tezos (XTZ), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Marlin (POUND), and many others.
Staking Fees: 3% – 15%
Dokia Capital
Bucharest-based Dokia Capital is a staking-as-a-service provider that allows you to delegate assets directly from your wallet to start earning staking rewards.
Founded: 2019
Stakable assets: Cosmos (ATOM), Terra (LUNA), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL), IRISnet (IRIS), and many more.
Staking Fees: 5% – 15%
Top 5 Digital Asset Exchanges That Offer “Exchange Staking”
Binance is arguably the leading digital asset exchange in the world. The Malta-based exchange has managed to establish itself as one of the go-to trading platforms for retail traders.
Additionally to launching its own blockchains – Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain – the company also offers exchange staking for a large number of digital assets, including BNB.
The platform offers two staking options, which includes Locked Staking, where your asset is locked for a certain period, and staking in DeFi projects.
Founded: 2017
Stakable Assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), Dai (DAI), Tether (USDT), SushiSwap (SUSHI), Tezos (XTZ) and many more.
Staking Fees: Zero
Coinbase is one of the largest digital asset companies in the world. The exchange and wallet provider offers a suite of different services, including an education platform, an automated investing feature, and also a staking service.
Coinbase users can currently stake three assets by leaving the tokens in their Coinbase wallet. Other stakable assets are expected to follow as Coinbase expands in the universe of supported assets.
Founded: 2011
Stakable Assets: Ethereum (ETH), Tezos (XTZ) and Cosmos (ATOM)
Staking Fees: 20% – 25%
KuCoin is the pioneer of exchange staking. The Singapore-based exchange was the first trading platform to introduce soft staking in 2019.
Users can currently stake a wide range of assets on KuCoin, including several that you will not find on other reputable platforms.
Founded: 2013
Stakable Assets: Algorand (ALGO), Aion (AION), Cosmos (ATOM), EOS (EOS), Tron (TRX), Internet of Services (IOST), Neblio (NEBL), DeepOnion (ONION), Energi (NRG), NULS (NULS), TomoChain (TOMO), Loom Network (LOOM), Loki (LOKI), V Systems (VSYS), WAN (Wanchain), Tezos (XTZ) and PIVX (PIVX)
Staking Fees: 5% – 10%
San Francisco-based Kraken is one of the most established digital asset exchanges in the market. The trading platform offers a number of leading altcoins and has been a popular choice for both retail and professional traders for almost a decade
In 2019, Kraken also joined the exchange staking market by offering a staking service for Tezos (XTZ).
Founded: 2011
Stakable Assets: Ethereum (ETH), Tezos (XTZ), Cosmos (ATOM), KAVA (KAVA)
Staking Fees: 15%
Poloniex is one of the most established exchanges in the world.
Aside from its array of features for both novice and advanced traders, Poloniex also offers exchange staking.
Founded: 2014
Stakable Assets: Tron (TRX), Cosmos (ATOM), BitTorrent (BTT), WINk (WIN), Tendies (TEND)
Staking Fees: 0% – 25%
While staking can be an excellent way to earn income on your digital asset holdings, it is still a risky venture as the underlying digital asset values can fluctuate wildly. As such, investors should never invest more in stakable (or any) digital assets than they can afford to lose.
Print this page
London, United Kingdom
