Digital asset bank Sygnum has expanded its staking portfolio to the Cardano blockchain's native token, ADA, which is the world's eighth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
- Cardano's ADA joins Ethereum's ETH, Internet Computer's ICP and Tezos' YTZ in the firm's staking offerings, which are integrated with its banking platform.
- Like Ethereum, Cardano offers smart contract functionality with the hope of making the tokens more accessible so that any anyone can use them to create decentralized applications.
- Staking is the process by which users of a blockchain lock up – or "stake" – their coins in order to participate in running a network. Stakers then receive rewards calculated in percentage yields. In this way, it works very much like putting fiat money into a savings account, only with generally much higher yields.
- Sygnum is aiming to offer that within the framework of a regulated financial services firm, with institutional-grade security.
- In June, the bank started offering custody and trading across a range of decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. DeFi refers to financial activities carried out on a blockchain without third-party intervention.
- The Singapore and Switzerland-based bank was valued at $800 million in January following a $90 million funding round.