Deutsche Telekom: next Ethereum validator

The German telecommunications giant, Deutsche Telekom, has announced that it wants to enter the crypto world with increasing conviction to become a validator node of the new Ethereum network.

Deutsche Telekom plans to add to Ethereum staking

In an announcement via Twitter, German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom reiterated its interest in the crypto space and cryptocurrencies in particular, expressing its interest in joining the race to become a validator of Ethereum’s new network following the Merge update, launched in mid-September.

Unser @mms_blockchain Team stellt Infrastruktur für @ethereum bereit und steigt in Kooperation mit @stakewise_io in #LiquidStaking ein: https://t.co/usz6ahYfGf #DAO #Ethereum #Staking $ETH

— T-Systems MMS (@TSystems_MMS) September 29, 2022

The German company reported that its T-Systems Multimedia Solutions (MMS) division has been working for weeks with a new Proof-of-Stake and DAO application, StakeWise, to manage a pool that allows its customers to participate in the verification of Ethereum transactions.

The company in a statement on its corporate website said:

“Deutsche Telekom is expanding its activities in the field of blockchain technology by including the second largest blockchain in the world. DT’s subsidiary, T-Systems MMS provides the Ethereum Network with infrastructure in the form of validation nodes. Validators play a key role in the operation and security of blockchains.“

In a public statement, the head of the Blockchain Solutions Center at T-Systems MMS, Dirk Röder, said: 

“As a node operator, our entry into liquid staking and the close collaboration with a DAO is a novelty for Deutsche Telekom.”

This is yet another step by the German telecommunications giant into the crypto space, after it entered San Francisco-based Celo, a platform for digital payments on mobile, in April last year.

Last month, it was the turn of T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom’s mobile phone company, to partner with Nova Labs to launch a new 5G wireless service called Helium Mobile that aims to allow users to earn rewards in cryptographic tokens for sharing data.

Deutsche Telekom’s dive into the crypto world

Deutsche Telekom is now jumping straight into the cryptocurrency world as a major player, offering its approximately 250 million customers the chance to join a validation pool on the Ethereum blockchain network, significantly lowering the barrier to entry that Ethereum has placed on becoming new validators on the network.

All of this is enabled by the fact that T-Systems MMS will support Liquid Staking. Furthermore, as mentioned, thanks to the collaboration with Stake Wise, the company will be able to support Liquid Staking, which allow users to keep their ETH tokens without having to use validation nodes on their own. 

Dirk Röder explained:

“Our cooperation partner StakeWise collects individual Ether tokens from many different owners and merges them into validator nodes. These validator nodes are provided and operated as infrastructure by T-Systems MMS. Staked Ether tokens remain available to the owner in this construct – liquid – and can be used in other Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications.”

In addition, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary also participates directly in the governance of StakeWise and has joined the so-called Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).

Dirk Röder added:

“After collaborating with Flow, Celo and Polkadot, we are taking the next decisive step into the blockchain world and are doing pioneering work here with Ethereum. As a node operator, our entry into liquid staking and close cooperation with a DAO is a first for Deutsche Telekom.”

Kirill Kutakov, co-founder of StakeWise, on the other hand, explained:

“With the move to Proof-of-Stake, we expect strong demand and significantly increasing capital flows in the Ethereum network. We are therefore pleased that T-Systems MMS, as an infrastructure provider, is giving our protocol more reliability and making the Ethereum ecosystem safer overall.”