Due to the increasing amount of interest in Eth2 staking, OKEx has decided to offer a “one click” service “before” December 17, which is a lot earlier than what rival Coinbase has promised.
On December 1, the mainnet for Eth2’s Beacon Chain was successfully launched. This is “phase 0” on the Ethereum 2.0 development roadmap.
Here is how Ethereum Foundation’s Beacon Chain Guide explains the basic idea and purpose of the Beacon Chain:
“The Beacon Chain will introduce proof-of-stake to Ethereum. This is a new way for you to help keep Ethereum secure. Think of it like a public good that will make Ethereum healthier and earn you more ETH in the process. In practice, it will involve you staking ETH in order to activate validator software. As a validator you’ll process transactions and create new blocks in the chain.”
Although the Beacon Chain “can’t handle accounts or smart contracts,” it is essential for co-ordinating “the expanded network of shards and stakers.” Shard chains, which “increase the capacity of the network and improve transaction speed by extending the network to 64 blockchains,” are the next Eth2 upgrade, and they need “staking to work securely.”
BeaconScan, which is an Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain Explorer by the team that created Etherscan, tell us that the ETH2 Beacon Chain Mainnet currently (as of 08:35 UTC on December 8) has 27,071 active validators.
According to a press release shared with CryptoGlobe, crypto exchange OKEx, which has long been a strong supporter of Ethereum and its ecosystem (especially, in the DeFi sector), has announced that its upcoming Eth2 staking service will offer a very simple way for users to “stake ETH in return for BETH (i.e., Beacon ETH) at a ratio of 1:1, and receive a competitive and sustainable daily yield.”
OKEx will “cover all the operating expenses of being an Ethereum 2.0 validator and assume the risk of any validator penalties,” with on-chain profits “proportionally distributed based on the number of staked tokens and the lock-up time, with an estimated annual rate of return of between 6% and 20%.” It is also possible for users to “receive additional USDT rewards for taking part in the program.”
OKEx CEO Jay Hao had this to say:
“We’re delighted to see the Ethereum community successfully pull off the first phase of Ethereum 2.0 and would like to extend our full support to them by allowing for Ether staking on OKEx. This will help staking-liquidity as Ethereum continues the work through the four phases toward transitioning to the proof-of-stake blockchain that will have the ability to support millions of users around the world.”
Last Friday, Michael Sonnenshein, managing director at Grayscale Investments LLC, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg:
“Over the course of 2020 we are seeing a new group of investors who are Ethereum first and in some cases Ethereum only. There’s a growing conviction around Ethereum as an asset class…
“The development of the asset class has continued to solidify itself. Ethereum has along the same lines of the staying power Bitcoin has.”
According to data by CryptoCompare, Ether is currently (as of 08:45 UTC on December 8) trading around $582.29. In the year-to-date period, Ether has been one of the best-performing “mega-cap” altcoins, with the ETH price up roughly 356% vs USD.
Earlier today, Ki Young Ju, the CEO of on-chain analytics firm CyptoQuant, called ETH “the most undervalued” cryptoasset.
Featured Image by “elifxlite” via Pixabay.com
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
