Swyftx has become the first Australian crypto exchange to offer staking for multiple digital assets.

The Brisbane-based exchange saw $10 million in inflows an hour after launch yesterday, and by mid-morning had seen $77m after 12 hours of trading, a spokesman said.

The exchange is currently offering staking rewards for top 10 cryptos Solana, Cardano and Polkadot, along with Tezos, Cosmos (ATOM), Kava, Kusama and Algorand. VeChain, Polygon, NEO and Band Protocol are coming soon.

Rewards range from 4.9 per cent per year for Cardano to 20 per cent for Kava. Solana, the biggest crypto with staking rewards, offers 6.5 per cent returns. There’s no fees or lockup period.

For those new to cryptocurrency, a brief explainer. Most modern cryptos use “staking” to secure their networks from attack instead of the energy-intensive process of mining, with rewards paid to node operators that validate transactions honestly. An added benefit for everyday users is that it’s generally possible to easily delegate staking rights to a node and share those rewards, while mining generally takes a substantial investment in computer hardware.

Globally, over US$353 billion in value of crypto assets is staked, according to stakingrewards.com

Melbourne-based BTC Markets has long offered staking rewards for Algorand, but no other digital asset. Most big international exchanges also offer staking, including Kraken and Binance, both of which have Australian operations.

Global social trading platform eToro began offering its Australian customers staking rewards from November 1 on Cardano and Tron, with more assets to come.

“The crypto ecosystem is expanding with the emergence of new altcoins,” eToro’s Australian managing director Robert Francis said last month.

“As a result we are seeing Australian investors looking at crypto beyond a store of value, instead using it as a way to diversify their portfolios beyond traditional assets like stocks, in order to hedge against risks such as inflation.”

 

‘Enormous upswell in demand’

“Australians want to earn rewards and their strong preference is to trade and stake through Australian-owned exchanges, so this is a really important moment,” said Swyftx chief executive Ryan Parsons.

“We’ve seen an enormous upswell in customer demand for staking this year. “

Parsons said Swyftx expects the proof-of-stake market to grow significantly over the next six months, as major market upgrades come online and traders more energy-efficient crypto coins.  

“A lot will depend on when the Ethereum network moves to proof-of-stake. But even if it’s delayed beyond the current May to June 2022 estimate, we still expect to see more customers diversify their crypto portfolios to include greener coins.”  

Australia’s largest exchange by customer Coinspot has said it will offer staking, but hasn’t released a timeframe.

Meanwhile, Sydney-based exchange Independent Reserve has released an app, for both Android and iOS, that lets customers buy and sell crypto in seconds, as well as track their portfolio.

 

Saxo expands crypto offerings

Meanwhile, global trading platform Saxo Markets says demand for its crypto products have exceeded expectations since being introduced this past May.

Worldwide trading has exceeded US$2.5 billion, leading the Danish online broker to add more leveraged crypto products.

In Australia, crypto has made up 2.5 per cent of local trading revenue to date, with Ethereum gaining significant ground on the number of clients trading Bitcoin.

Saxo is now offering nine leveraged crypto FX pairs and more than 50 exchange-traded products (ETPs) including Cardano, Solana, Polkadot, Stellar and Ripple.

“In trading ETPs, there is no need for a crypto wallet, meaning investors don’t own or store the underlying coins,” said Saxo Markets Australia CEO, Adam Smith

This negates worries about crypto exchange hacks or losing access, which is important as stories of access to cryptocurrency wallets being lost to dramatic effect have been widely reported.”

Saxo is also increasing the maximum crypto FX position limits from US$50,000 to US$200,000 retail clients and US$200,000 to US$500,000 for professional accounts.

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