ChainCatcher reported that according to Cryptoslate, according to a report by Blockworks Research, nearly 70% of institutional investors holding Ethereum participated in staking, of which 52.6% held liquid staking tokens (LST). Nearly half of institutional investors who staked ETH tend to use only one integrated platform, such as Coinbase and Binance. At the same time, 60.6% of survey participants also use third-party staking platforms.
The report states that one-fifth of the institutional investors surveyed have more than 60% of their portfolios allocated to Ethereum or ETH-based LST. The survey respondents included exchanges, custodians, investment firms, asset managers, wallet providers, and banks. The report shows that the key features that respondents consider when choosing a staking provider are reputation, the range of supported networks, price, ease of participation, competitive costs, and expertise and scalability.
Liquidity and security are also the most important features for institutional investors when deciding whether staking is feasible. On a scale of 1 to 10, liquidity has an average importance score of 8.5, reflecting investors' concerns about exiting large LST positions when necessary. Security, meanwhile, scored higher with an average importance score of 9.4, due to concerns that withdrawal efficiency will be affected in the event of market volatility. In addition, 61.1% of respondents said they are willing to pay extra for enhanced security and fault tolerance. Geography also plays a role, with half of institutional investors considering the location of the validator important when choosing a staking platform.
