Interactive Brokers has started offering Ethereum staking to its clients. The brokerage is plugging into ZeroHash, a crypto infrastructure provider, to run the staking behind the scenes. It's the latest sign that traditional brokerages want a piece of crypto's yield game without building the plumbing themselves.
Why a brokerage wants in on staking
Staking lets ETH holders lock up tokens to help secure the network and earn rewards in return. For a platform like Interactive Brokers, that turns a dormant asset into something that generates a return. The company says the rollout is meant to boost what clients can actually do with the crypto they hold, and to keep them engaged on the platform rather than moving coins to a specialist staking service.
The tie-up with ZeroHash keeps the technical side off Interactive Brokers' plate. Running validators, managing keys, handling slashing risk — that's a full-time job. ZeroHash already sells that infrastructure to other firms, so the brokerage gets a product it can switch on without hiring a crypto engineering team.
The access argument
Interactive Brokers frames the move as a way to broaden who can earn staking yields. Until recently, that kind of return was mostly the domain of people comfortable running their own validator or parking funds on a crypto-native exchange. Putting it inside a mainstream brokerage account lowers the barrier for clients who'd rather not deal with wallets and node software.
There's a liquidity angle too. The company expects the feature could help deepen the market for ETH by drawing more holders into staking. Whether that plays out depends on how much of the brokerage's client base actually opts in — and that's not something anyone can measure on day one.
Brokerages keep creeping into crypto
Interactive Brokers isn't the first traditional firm to test staking, but it's one of the bigger names to bolt it onto an existing brokerage account. The pattern here is familiar. Rather than launch a separate crypto arm, the company is folding the feature into the platform its clients already use, relying on a third party for the parts it doesn't want to own.
That approach keeps regulatory and operational exposure contained. ZeroHash handles the staking mechanics; Interactive Brokers handles the client relationship. It's a clean split, and it's one more reason the line between a stock brokerage and a crypto platform keeps getting thinner.
The obvious open question is which assets come next. Interactive Brokers hasn't said whether it plans to extend staking to other proof-of-stake tokens, or whether this stays an Ethereum-only feature. Clients who want in can start staking now, but the broader roadmap is still under wraps.
