Staking very popular among Kraken users: already over 500,000 ETH

Interest in Staking with Ethereum continues to grow. Kraken has reached a milestone of 500,000 ETH.

The transition from Ethereum to Ethereum 2.0 officially began in December 2020 with the launch of the Beacon Chain. The long-awaited scaling solution takes the blockchain from a Bitcoin Code proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. Since the transition began, users of US crypto exchange Kraken have used more than half a million Ether (ETH) on the platform for staking.

On Tuesday, Kraken said in a public statement that the company „is pleased to announce that the total amount of Ether staked on the platform is now over 500,000 ETH. The Ethereum community continues to support the long-awaited transition to Proof of Stake (PoS).“

Kraken rose above the 500,000 ETH staking mark yesterday and was at 501,300 ETH when the news became public.

Interest in Eth2 and Staking increased steadily towards the end of 2020 ahead of the Beacon Chain launch in December.

The launch required a minimum of 16,384 participants, who together had to stake a total of 524,288 ETH or more

Participants can self-stake on the Ethereum 2.0 network if they have at least 32 ETH and go through certain processes, according to Kraken’s statement. Staking ETH on Kraken, however, is more user-friendly and requires less capital. „Staking on Kraken can be done in just three clicks and is open to anyone,“ the statement said. „Customers can stake from as little as 0.00001 ETH. That’s currently a little less than 2 cents.“

Independently staked ETH must be locked indefinitely until certain Eth2 events occur. ETH staked on Kraken works more flexibly, depending on the regulatory requirements of each region, the statement continues.

Coinbase recently introduced a waiting list for people who want to run ETH staking on its platform, according to a blog post on 16 February. Binance started offering ETH Staking in December 2020, according to a blog announcement. Kraken also launched staking on its platform in December.

Eth2 has been in the works for years, despite some setbacks. But the upgrade still has a long way to go.