Leading neobank Revolut launches crypto staking in the UK and EEA

As the cryptocurrency industry continues to seep into the mainstream, neo-banking platform Revolut has rolled out crypto staking services for its users in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area (EEA), allowing them to earn profit by locking up their cryptocurrencies in a wallet.

Indeed, Revolut, which offers financial services through its mobile application and Revolut card, now enables users to lock their digital assets for a specific period of time, receiving returns on their locked balance, the challenger bank said on February 7.

According to Revolut, customers will this way be in a position to earn up to 11.65% annual percentage yield (APY), with variations in the “payout, cadence, and required minimum time to stake,” depending on the selected token.

For the moment, the staking feature is only being launched for four tokens – Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), and Tezo (XTZ) – with the possibility of staking one’s existing balance or purchasing and staking the acquired balance.

Commenting on the announcement, Revolut’s crypto general manager Emil Urmanshin expressed his team’s enthusiasm and explained that introducing staking was an important step for the bank:

“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’s other crypto accomplishments

Notably, the bank’s recent addition is not the first of its crypto-focused efforts. In June 2020, it moved to grant users legal control over their crypto assets, enabling Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals in April 2021, and continuously expanding its crypto trading support over the years.

In August 2022, Revolut listed job ads for 13 crypto-related positions, as part of its plans to grow its crypto workforce by 20%, bringing in employees in Europe, the UK, and the United States over the ensuing six months, as Finbold reported at the time.

At the same time, the neobanking platform ensured regulatory approval to offer crypto services to millions of its users in Europe, as it was selected as the crypto-asset service provider (CASP) for the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CYSEC).

The development was followed by the bank slashing its crypto trading fees by 20% as of October 3, 2022, allowing clients to buy and sell crypto with fees ranging “from 2.50% to 1.99% or EUR 0.99, whichever is higher.”

More recently, in November 2022, Revolut announced the introduction of a crypto card in the UK, allowing residents in that country to purchase everyday items using Dogecoin (DOGE), which it listed in June 2021, as well as receive a 1% payback for purchases made using one of nearly a hundred supported digital assets.