Interactive Brokers introduced cryptocurrency staking services on Tuesday, starting with ether. The brokerage says eligible customers can stake ETH directly through its Client Portal, with Zerohash powering the service. IBKR oversees $964.7 billion in total client equity and trades on Nasdaq under the ticker IBKR.
That's a lot of client money sitting next to a product that, until now, wasn't available on the platform. Staking is the first concrete crypto yield feature the broker has put in front of its customer base.
Where the staking actually happens
The staking infrastructure is provided by Zerohash, a Chicago-based crypto infrastructure firm. Interactive Brokers isn't building the validator stack itself. It's plugging into an existing provider and surfacing the feature inside its own portal. That keeps the regulatory and technical lift on Zerohash's side while IBKR handles distribution.
The arrangement is consistent with how traditional brokers have approached crypto: custody and execution through a specialist, the front-end experience owned by the broker.
Just ETH, for now
Ether is the only asset available at launch. The company said eligible customers can stake ETH directly through the Client Portal, without naming a timeline for adding other proof-of-stake assets. Solana, Cardano, and other staking-friendly tokens are obvious candidates, but IBKR hasn't said anything about them.
The word "eligible" is doing some work here. Interactive Brokers hasn't published the full criteria — jurisdiction, account type, and minimum balance are the usual filters — and the company didn't detail them in Tuesday's announcement.
Why a broker wants staking
Staking gives customers a reason to keep crypto on the platform rather than moving it to a dedicated staking service or a self-custody wallet. For Interactive Brokers, the appeal is retention and fee revenue, not ideology. The firm built its reputation on equities, options, and futures. Crypto is a smaller part of the book, but it's a part that competitors have been building out for years.
Zerohash also gives IBKR a compliance story. The provider handles the validator operations and the regulatory plumbing that comes with earning rewards on customer assets. That's not a small thing for a Nasdaq-listed brokerage with a conservative customer base.
What's still missing
No reward rates were disclosed. No supported jurisdictions. No word on whether staked ETH will count toward margin or collateral. Those are the details that determine whether this is a real product or a checkbox feature.
Interactive Brokers hasn't said when the rollout widens beyond the initial eligible group. Watch for the next update to name the jurisdictions and the assets that follow ether.
