Cryptocurrency index fund manager Bitwise Asset Management has acquired Ethereum staking firm Attestant Limited, as locking up ETH for rewards continues to gain traction among holders. 

Bitwise aims to leverage its acquisition of the Ethereum staking firm—which handles $3.7 billion worth of staked ETH—to build out Bitwise OS, a new on-chain product suite for digital asset investors.

The suite will provide professional non-custodial staking services alongside hedge fund services and exchange-traded products, as the firm continues to focus on offering more staking-related products to its investors.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Bitwise said it is now responsible for over $10 billion worth of client assets with Attestant's added tally.

“This acquisition allows us to expand the ways we can help investors meet their objectives,” Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said Wednesday in a statement.

Bitwise OS staking services will initially be available with a $10 million minimum stake requirement. Staking refers to the “locking up” of a digital asset such as ETH to power parts of a blockchain's operations.

Token holders receive rewards such as yield for staking their cryptocurrencies for predetermined periods of time, with yield on locked-up Ethereum tokens poised to potentially exceed U.S. interest rates. Such incentives have fueled robust demand for staking ETH, despite the digital asset's lackluster price action during this latest crypto market rally. 

Roughly 35 million ETH, worth more than $100 billion at present, have been staked according to on-chain data published on crypto data platform Dune.

More broadly, staking across various digital assets is also attracting the attention of token holders. And against that backdrop, Bitwise has begun pushing to roll out a variety of digital asset staking products.  

Earlier this week, Bitwise announced that it would launch a staking-focused exchange-traded product for APT, the token of the Aptos network. The ETP, which launches on November 19 in Europe, aims to generate approximately 4.7% of net fees directly accumulated within the ETP.

Edited by Andrew Hayward