Interactive Brokers has started offering Ethereum staking to its clients, with Zerohash handling the backend. Eligible clients keep at least 70% of the staking rewards under the agreement the broker signed with Zerohash.
That's the headline number. Staking rewards on Ethereum are variable, but the revenue split is contractual, not market-dependent. Clients who qualify get the majority of whatever the validator earns. The broker takes the rest as its cut.
Why a broker is outsourcing staking
Running Ethereum validators is a technical and operational grind. You need uptime, key management, slashing protection, and a team watching the beacon chain at 3 a.m. Interactive Brokers isn't in that business. Zerohash is. The arrangement lets the brokerage offer staking without building a validator stack from scratch, which is the same logic behind most white-label staking products in the market.
It also keeps the regulatory surface smaller. The broker isn't custodying validator keys directly. Zerohash sits between the client and the network, and the 70% cut is the commercial terms of that middle layer.
The 70% split, in context
A 30% haircut on staking rewards is on the steep end of what retail-facing staking products charge, but it's not outrageous for a regulated brokerage wrapper. The trade-off is convenience and compliance: clients don't touch a wallet, don't manage keys, and don't worry about missing an attestation. They just see a yield line on their statement.
The "at least 70%" language matters. It leaves room for the split to improve, presumably at scale or for larger balances. Or it's a floor set by the commercial deal and won't move. The facts don't say which.
Withdrawals aren't instant
One thing clients should understand before they stake: getting ETH back out isn't a same-day operation. Withdrawals of staked Ethereum remain subject to the network's waiting periods. That's an Ethereum protocol rule, not an Interactive Brokers policy. The exit queue on Ethereum fluctuates with network demand, and during busy periods it can take days. Anyone treating staked ETH as liquid cash will be disappointed.
Interactive Brokers hasn't said anything about minimum balances, eligible jurisdictions, or which account types qualify. Those details will matter to anyone trying to figure out whether they can actually use the service, and right now they're not public.
What to watch
The obvious next step is disclosure of the eligibility criteria. Brokerages don't roll out staking to every client on day one, usually because of regional licensing or account-type restrictions. Until Interactive Brokers publishes that list, the practical reach of the product is unknown.
The other open question is yield presentation. If the broker shows a single blended rate, clients won't easily see how the 70/30 split plays out against the network's variable rewards. Whether the fee is baked into the displayed number or broken out separately will determine how transparent this actually is.
