Largest Ethereum Mining Pool Launches New ETH Staking Ahead Of Merge

Ethermine, the largest Ethereum ETH/USD mining pool, has launched a new staking service for ETH.

What Happened: In an announcement on Tuesday, Ethermine unveiled the service where users can invest as little as 0.1 ETH and participate in staking.

The new service will be offered via Austrian blockchain startup BitFly. At the time of writing, the staking service was not available to users based in the U.S.

Stakers will be able to earn 4.49% interest annually on their ETH deposits through the platform. The daily rate of returns will be based on ETH_STORE — a financial reference rate that represents the average return of validators on the ETH network over a 24-hour period.

“Basing a financial instrument’s conditions on the ETH.STORE allows market participants to factor in (and clearly identify) risk premiums, allowing for a potentially more transparent market overall,” said BitFly attorneys in a statement.

See Also: HOW TO STAKE ETHEREUM

As Ethereum switches to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) when the Merge takes effect this month, the era of mining ETH will officially come to an end. This means that most ETH miners would be forced to switch to mining other Proof-of-Work blockchains, such as Ethereum Classic ETC/USD, compatible with their equipment.

Price Action: ETH was trading at $1,550 at press time, up just 1% over the last 24 hours, as per data from Benzinga Pro.