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By Will Canny, AI Boost|Edited by Aoyon Ashraf
Jun 19, 2025, 1:00 p.m.
- Kraken has launched a bitcoin staking service.
- The new offering allows Kraken customers to stake their bitcoin while locking their crypto in a custodial vault on the native chain.
Crypto exchange Kraken has launched bitcoin
staking through a new integration with Babylon, as decentralized finance on BTC picks up.
Babylon is a Bitcoin-native protocol that enables BTC to secure proof-of-stake (PoS) networks without leaving the blockchain.
Story continues
The service allows Kraken users to stake their bitcoin directly, locking it in a custodial vault on the native chain. The staked bitcoin is then delegated to PoS networks via Babylon, and rewards are paid in BABY, the token of Babylon Genesis, a bitcoin-secured Layer 1, Kraken said.
Bitcoin has historically been used as a store of value and a medium of exchange. The advent of novel security sharing protocols has made BTC staking a third native use case, bitcoin DeFi, for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
The Bitcoin network is “evolving into a broader decentralized finance ecosystem with the emergence of Bitcoin DeFi,” Binance Research said in a report in March.
Only ~0.8% of the bitcoin supply is currently being used in DeFi, and this presents a large “untapped opportunity,” the report said. Binance, the competing crypto exchange of Kraken, also offers a bitcoin staking opportunity on its platform through Babylon.
“With this launch, clients can earn a return on their BTC while also enabling emerging PoS blockchains to benefit from the economic weight of bitcoin in order to validate transactions and bolster the security of their networks,” said Kraken’s Global Head of Consumer, Mark Greenberg, in the release.
The mechanism is fully on-chain, with staking governed by Bitcoin scripts and cryptographic safeguards to deter malicious behavior.
Users can unstake at any time, with around a 7-day unbonding period.
The crypto exchange first introduced custodial staking in 2019. The bitcoin staking feature is now available across all Kraken platforms.
Read more: Kraken Unveils White-Glove Prime Brokerage Service for Crypto Institutions
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Will Canny is an experienced market reporter with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. He’s now covering the crypto beat as a finance reporter at CoinDesk. He owns more than $1,000 of SOL.
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.
