Quick take:
- The bank also said it plans to introduce staking for other tokens soon.
- PostFinance launched crypto trading and custody services in 2024.
- The announcement comes just weeks after the central bank was asked to purchase and hold Bitcoin as a strategic reserve.
Switzerland’s PostFinance has introduced Ethereum staking as part of its expanded cryptocurrency offerings. According to the Bloomberg report, the state-owned bank said it also plans to introduce staking for other tokens soon.
The announcement follows the bank’s launch of crypto trading and custody services last year, which allowed its customers to easily “purchase or securely store a range of 11 cryptocurrencies or even set up a savings plan.”
Many countries around the world have revealed plans to open strategic crypto reserves, mainly in the form of Bitcoin. Last month, officials asked the Swiss central bank to purchase and hold Bitcoin as a strategic reserve.
According to the announcement, the officials wanted the central bank policy, which currently requires the institution to hold “gold” as a strategic reserve, to be amended to read” gold and Bitcoin”.
PostFinance claims to be the first “systemically important bank to offer staking.” As a state-owned bank, it sets the pace for the crypto industry in Switzerland, which has started to pick up pace with the rest of Europe.
The company also recently invested in Zurich-based institutional crypto trading platform Wyden.
PostFinance’s crypto moves follow those of Germany’s biggest bank by the number of branches Commerzbank (CBK), which introduced crypto trading services last September. Commerzbank teamed up with locally-based Crypto Finance, a subsidiary of the country’s biggest stock exchange.
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