Online Bank Revolut Launches Crypto Staking In The UK And EEA

London-based digital bank Revolut has introduced a crypto staking service for customers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom (Uk), according to a report from London-based financial technology newspaper AltFi on Monday.

Revolut has approximately 25 million customers globally, most of whom are in the UK and EEA and can access the service through the company’s financial super app. Although the product has only reached a limited number of customers, Revolut’s crypto-staking program is expected to be fully rolled out this week.

According to Altfi, Revolut will initially limit its stacking of cryptocurrencies, which have about 100 offered tokens, to four: Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), and Tezos (XTZ). The asset’s yield range from 2.99% to 11.65% per annum: however, these are variable.

In the digital asset market, crypto staking is a process of locking a certain amount of cryptocurrency in a wallet for a long period of time, usually from a few days to many months. On a proof-of-stake blockchain, this operation helps secure the network and verify transactions. Stacker, in return, gets additional profit in the form of interest. However, its mode of action is like a bank savings account.

Talking about the announcement, Emil Urmanshin, Revolut’s General Manager of crypto, expressed the team’s excitement and explained that launching the new feature was an important step.

He said:

“We want to enable users to do more with their crypto – with withdrawals and deposits, as well as earning interest on their crypto through Staking. Staking is the first milestone on our 2023 roadmap and we’re really excited to help users put their crypto to work and earn returns on their balances at Revolut.”

Revolut Is Penetrating In Crypto Space

The online UK banking provider has been paying attention to the crypto market for over 4 years. The company’s foray into cryptocurrencies properly started in 2017 when it offered Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum for trading.

A few months later, Revolut expanded the number of coins that have since become a major source of income for the company, notably by launching products such as crypto cashback for premium users.

Currently, Revolut offers trading in almost 100 different cryptocurrencies and gives customers the opportunity to buy using their crypto assets.

In June 2020, it switched to giving users control of their cryptocurrency holdings, and in April 2021, it allowed them to withdraw bitcoins by simply adding their wallet address. Aiming to grow its cryptocurrency workforce by 20%, Revolut posted 13 crypto-related vacancies in August 2022.

In September 2022, it was added to the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) list of authorized firms offering crypto services and products to its millions of European customers. Furthermore, with a newly launched crypto card in the UK in November 2022, people can buy everyday goods using Dogecoin (DOGE).

The latest development comes as Revolut partner and CEO of the Australian branch Matt Baxby says the firm is working to explore more market space by 2023 as competition increases. In an interview with CNBC on February 5, Baxby said:

“I think we’ve seen growth as a result of two things: Offering features to customers where there’s unmet needs in the market, and ensuring that we deeply understand what those needs are and then exceeding those expectations as they come to market. The other plane of growth is establishing Revolut’s growth in more markets globally.”