The next chapter in Bitcoin’s evolution is here. With the launch of Mezo, Bitcoin takes yet another step into a new financial era—one where BTC holders can stake, borrow, spend, and more without ever selling their Bitcoin.
At Chorus One, we’re proud to support this pivotal moment, and support BTC staking on Mezo.
Yes, you read that right: you can now stake your BTC—and earn rewards—through a network purpose-built for Bitcoin-native DeFi. Sound good? Then let’s dive in!
Despite being the most secure and decentralized asset in crypto, Bitcoin has remained mostly passive. Its limited scripting language design doesn’t allow for native smart contracts, staking, or the kinds of applications that have fueled the DeFi explosion on Ethereum and other chains.
Mezo changes that, bringing functionality to Bitcoin itself.
It’s a Bitcoin-first, EVM-compatible Layer 1 designed to transform BTC into a productive financial asset. Built using the Cosmos SDK and anchored by tBTC, the most trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge in production, Mezo enables users to do more with their BTC—while retaining full custody and sovereignty. To support this, Mezo introduces a dual-environment architecture designed to balance security and innovation:
From staking and fixed-rate lending to Bitcoin-backed stablecoins and on-chain spending, Mezo is building the core primitives that allow Bitcoin to become more than a store of value. It becomes the foundation for a circular, user-owned economy.
With Mezo’s mainnet launch comes an expansion in Bitcoin utility. BTC holders can now stake their Bitcoin (or wrapped variants like tBTC or WBTC) directly into the Mezo network. In doing so, they help secure the protocol and, in return, earn Mezo Points, a native rewards system that will evolve into BTC-based incentives as the network matures.
Staking durations are flexible—where users can choose between 2, 6, or 9 months. The longer your commitment, the higher your reward multiplier. Everything is on-chain, and designed to uphold Bitcoin’s ethos of decentralization.
🔐 Want to learn more? Contact us here.
As a validator and infrastructure provider for Mezo, Chorus One is proud to help secure the network at mainnet launch, playing a foundational role in bringing Bitcoin staking to life. Our involvement is part of a broader commitment to supporting the next generation of Bitcoin-native finance—an emerging landscape of L2s driving innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
As one of the world’s most trusted staking providers, Chorus One brings the reliability and resilience this new financial infrastructure demands. We operate with ISO27001-certified security, 99.9% uptime across 40+ protocols, and a globally distributed infrastructure spanning 16 countries and 300+ points of presence. Every validator we run is backed by years of protocol expertise, automated operations, and proactive failover systems designed to ensure your assets stay safe and your rewards are delivered.
Choosing Chorus One means staking with a provider trusted by some of the largest names in crypto—and one fully aligned with Bitcoin’s ethos of security, transparency, and self-sovereignty.
👉To learn more, click here.
To get started staking your BTC, click here.
🟠 Remember, Mezo Points are just the beginning. These rewards will evolve into native BTC-based incentives as the network progresses.
To learn more, visit Mezo’s docs here.
Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold. With the launch of Mezo, and the continued development of BitcoinFi, its becoming increasingly programmable, productive, and participatory.
BTC holders can now engage in decentralized finance without bridging to Ethereum, giving up custody, or sacrificing Bitcoin’s principles. Mezo offers the infrastructure to do this natively—and Chorus One provides the trusted path to participate securely.
We’re excited to help shape this next chapter and invite you to join us at the forefront of Bitcoin’s evolution.
👉Are you an institution looking to stake your BTC? Get in touch today!
Cactus Custody (“Cactus”), the qualified institutional custodian brand under Matrixport, has selected Chorus One (“Chorus”), a leading global staking provider and node operator, to strengthen its institutional staking offerings. Through this strategic partnership, Cactus Link—Cactus' proprietary multi-chain wallet extension—will be able to access Chorus’ ETH staking dApp (ETH Vaults), which hosts various Ethereum staking and restaking products, enabling seamless and intuitive access to optimized ETH rewards.
Serving over 300 institutional clients across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, and safeguarding more than $10 billion in digital assets, Cactus is dedicated to providing secure, transparent, and efficient institutional custodial services tailored for the digital era. This collaboration is part of a shared vision to meet the increasing institutional demand for innovative, compliant blockchain solutions, in particular for staking.
Historically, staking and restaking digital assets required significant manual oversight and coordination across multiple platforms—a lucrative yet cumbersome endeavor. Enabling access to ETH Vaults for Cactus Link users transforms this process, allowing institutions to effortlessly deploy capital to earn ETH-based rewards.
While the blockchain industry has consistently introduced groundbreaking financial products, intuitive user experiences have often lagged behind. Embedding advanced solutions directly within wallet and custody environments like Cactus Link provides institutions a strategically attractive, efficient gateway for reward optimization and broader digital asset engagement.
Through this integration, Cactus Link users can seamlessly connect to ETH Vaults, just as they would with other browser extension wallets such as MetaMask. From here, they will gain access to Chorus’ ETH Vaults solutions: MEV Max and Obol.
Connecting to ETH Vaults:
MEV Max
The MEV Max Vault (MEV Max) is an ETH staking solution designed for pooled staking. A first-to-market product, MEV Max introduces several benefits to Cactus users, including:
Obol
The Obol Vault (Obol DV) runs on Obol DVT, giving stakers the opportunity to earn ETH staking rewards, MEV rewards, as well as additional incentives paid in OBOL tokens through the recently launched Obol Incentive Program, while enjoying the enhanced decentralization and security of decentralized validator technology.
Liquid Staking & Future Developments
Both MEV Max and Obol DV give Cactus users the option to mint osETH, a liquid staking token that can be used for restaking and/or DeFi activations such as Chorus’ looped staking solution, “Boost”. Boost allows stakers to increase their staking rewards - with boosted stakers doubling their rewards in some cases, through the use of Aave. For more information on Boost, please visit here to learn more.
Following the integration of ETH Vaults, later this month, there are plans to integrate Cactus Link on Chorus’ Solana staking DApp, further enhancing the sophisticated staking offerings available via Cactus Link. Chorus boasts a storied history within the Solana ecosystem, with ties going back as far as pre-launch testnets, and sustained involvement since, including: operating a genesis validator, a key innovator in MEV solutions, and a longstanding community contributor.
“The industry has talked about institutional adoption for years—but now we can confidently say it's here,” said Brian Crain, Chorus One CEO. “We’re seeing not just a massive influx of capital, but also sophisticated investors demanding powerful products alongside secure, intuitive user experiences for staking. Working with Cactus, we look forward to further developing this unified financial hub in the APAC region and making Ethereum and Solana staking easily accessible to institutions.”
Timothy Tan, Head of Sales and Partnerships of Cactus Custody, added, "At Cactus Custody, we're committed to bridging the gap between institutional-grade security and the dynamic opportunities of blockchain technology. Partnering with Chorus One empowers our clients with seamless access to trusted staking solutions through Cactus Link, transforming complex reward generation into a streamlined, secure, and intuitive experience."
Cactus and Chorus have developed an ambitious integration roadmap, furthering the build-out of a comprehensive hub for reward-optimization products. The integration of additional products with Cactus Link looks to set a new standard for both institutional and retail products, wherein users can seamlessly navigate multiple offerings with just a few clicks. Stay tuned for more updates!
CTA - Maximize Your ETH Rewards Today!
Founded by Jihan Wu, Cactus Custody offers institutional digital asset custody. ISO-certified and a licensed Hong Kong Trust Company (Licence No. TC006789) with a temporary exemption from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, it meets regulatory capital requirements and complies with strict anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules.
Using advanced security, Cactus Custody secures billions in assets across hot and cold storage for over 300 institutions, including leading mining companies, pools, funds, asset management platforms, and OTC traders.
Cactus Link, Cactus's multi-chain wallet extension, enables institutional DeFi on EVM and non-EVM chains, supporting nearly 30 blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, and Cosmos. Users can stake effortlessly without mnemonic phrases through a browser plugin. With features like transaction pre-validation, staking address verification, multi-level approvals, hardware signature checks, Taproot whitelisting, and auditor Ukey protection, Cactus Link ensures top security, unlocking DeFi and Web3 with confidence.
Learn more about Cactus Link at https://www.mycactus.com/defi-connector
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 50 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, Near, and others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry, offering easy-to-use, enterprise-grade staking solutions, conducting industry-leading research, and investing in innovative protocols through Chorus One Ventures. As an ISO 27001 certified provider, Chorus One also offers slashing and double-signing insurance to its institutional clients. For more information, visit chorus.one or follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram.
Chorus One Validator
kyvevaloper16pj5gljqnqs0ajxakccfjhu05yczp987rv492n or use:
Recommended Wallets
Block Explorer
Staking Rewards
https://www.stakingrewards.com/asset/kyve-network
Unstaking Period
21 Days
Kyve Network (KYVE) is a blockchain protocol focused on data availability and management, enabling developers to securely store, validate, and retrieve data in a decentralized way.
It achieves this by combining efficient data storage with a consensus layer, ensuring that the data is both immutable and verifiable. By leveraging its unique data archiving mechanisms, Kyve allows applications, especially in blockchain and Web3 ecosystems, to access reliable historical data without the need for centralized storage solutions. This makes it a beneficial infrastructure for projects requiring accurate data retrieval, such as DeFi protocols, oracles, and analytics platforms.
This combination of decentralization, scalability, and reliability allows Kyve to serve an important role for managing the growing demand for decentralized data in the blockchain space.
For the focus of this guide, we recommend using the Keplr wallet. While Leap is usable, this guide will be walking through a demonstration with Keplr.
However, if you would like to use Leap wallet and stake directly to the Chorus One validator via Mintscan, you can reference the quick guide below to start your Leap wallet.
If you already have a wallet installed, feel free to skip ahead to: Stake your KYVE
In case you don't have the Keplr extension installed in your browser, please visit https://www.keplr.app/ and click on 'Install Keplr'.
Click on Install Keplr for Chrome if you are using a Chrome browser or Brave if you are using the Brave browser and follow the installation instructions.
Click on the extension in the Chrome/Brave toolbar and the following page will open up.
In case you do not have an existing Keplr account you can click 'Create a new wallet'.
If you already have a wallet to use, you can select 'Import an existing wallet' or you can connect with a compatible hardware wallet, such as a Ledger device.
If you choose to create a new wallet you will be shown 12 words as your mnemonic seed.
Please be sure to back up your mnemonic seed securely.
Never share this seed phrase with anyone, as they will have access to your funds.
Next, enter an account name and a passphrase to lock and unlock your wallet. You will be asked for the mnemonic again.
After verifying your 12 or 24 word phrase, you will be prompted to select any other Cosmos Hub networks you'd like to add to your wallet.
No need to add any other networks if you don't plan on using them yet. You can always select more networks later.
However, it is advisable to have 'Cosmos Hub' selected when creating your new wallet.
Once you selected the relevant networks you want to use, click 'Save' and you'll be all set to go.
Regardless of whether you already have an wallet or if you just created it, you can now click on the Keplr extension to view your address or visit https://wallet.keplr.app/?tab=overview to see your full Keplr dashboard.
If you don't already have some KYVE in your wallet, you can fund it with some tokens. You may use an exchange to transfer the tokens to your address or get them from a trusted third party that already holds some.
If you want to stake from the browser extension wallet, you can either navigate to the Keplr dashboard (shown below) or scroll down on the wallet screen and select KYVE.
Alternatively, you can connect Keplr to the Mintscan explorer and stake to the Chorus One validator at this address: kyvevaloper16pj5gljqnqs0ajxakccfjhu05yczp987rv492n
Or you can navigate to thenChorus One staking page and click on 'Stake Now'
Next, you will be prompted to stake.
If you click on KYVE directly from your wallet extension, you will see the option to stake. Click on that to be taken to the staking dashboard in Keplr.
Alternatively, if you are already on the Keplr dashboard, to stake click on the 'Stake' tab on the left hand side of the dashboard.
Once there, you will see three steps highlighted in the pink box in the screenshot below.
Scroll or through the list or search for the chain you want, in this case KYVE.
Once you've chosen the Chorus One validator, select how many KYVE tokens you wish to stake, then click the 'Stake' button at the bottom of the screen.
Clicking on Stake will take you to Keplr wallet for approval. Approve the transaction and you will be able to see your stake.
Please note that KYVE has a 21-day unbonding process (also known as unstaking).
During this period your stake no longer earns rewards and cannot be transferred, exchanged, or spent.
However, you can cancel the unstaking process if you wish without penalty.
After some time you will see rewards accumulating in your wallet.
You can simply go to the Keplr dashboard to claim them by selecting 'Claim' and approving the transaction.
If you wish to unstake your KYVE, you can do so from the same interface in Keplr that you used to stake.
Simply click on the validator you wish to unstake from and you will be prompted with the following screen.
Please note that KYVE undergoes a 21 day unbonding period when unstaking.
To proceed, click on 'Unstake' and follow the prompts to select the amount of KYVE you wish to unstake.
Then confirm and sign the transaction in your wallet.
And that's it! Your KYVE will begin unbonding which you can track from your Keplr dashboard under the Staking tab.
You can view and manage all ongoing unstaking transactions (undelegations) from your Keplr dashboard and cancel them if you change your mind.
After the unbonding period is complete you will be able to transact with your unstaked KYVE again!
Chorus One Validator
axelarvaloper16pj5gljqnqs0ajxakccfjhu05yczp987zac7km
Recommended Wallets
Block Explorers
https://www.mintscan.io/axelar or https://axelarscan.io/
Staking Rewards
https://www.stakingrewards.com/asset/axelar
Unstaking Period
21 Days
Axelar (AXL) is a decentralized interoperability network designed to facilitate seamless communication between different blockchain ecosystems. It provides a universal protocol that allows applications to connect and interact with multiple blockchains, enabling the secure transfer of assets, data, and messages across diverse networks.
Axelar achieves this by using a set of decentralized gateways and cross-chain communication protocols, ensuring compatibility and smooth integration with various blockchains, including both Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions.
For the focus of this guide, we recommend using the Keplr wallet. While Leap is usable, this guide will walk through a demonstration with Keplr.
However, if you would like to use the Leap wallet and stake directly to the Chorus One validator via Mintscan, you can reference the quick guide below to start your Leap wallet.
In case you don't have the Keplr extension installed in your browser, please visit https://www.keplr.app/ and click on 'Install Keplr'.
Click on Install Keplr for Chrome if you are using a Chrome browser or Brave if you are using the Brave browser and follow the installation instructions.
Click on the extension in the Chrome/Brave toolbar, and the following page will open up.
If you do not have an existing Keplr account, you can click 'Create a new wallet'.
If you already have a wallet to use, you can select 'Import an existing wallet', or you can connect with a compatible hardware wallet, such as a Ledger device.
Alternatively, Keplr now offers the ability to associate your wallet with your Google account, however, this is a less secure way of establishing your wallet and is not recommended.
If you choose to create a new wallet, you will be shown 12 words as your mnemonic seed.
Please be sure to back up your mnemonic seed securely.
It is recommended to store it physically; never in a digital format or as a screenshot.
Never share this seed phrase with anyone, as they will have access to your funds.
A lost mnemonic seed phrase cannot be recovered.
Anyone with your mnemonic seed phrase can take control of your assets.
Next, enter an account name and a password to lock and unlock your wallet. You will be asked for the mnemonic again.
Enter the 12 or 24 words in order and case sensitive (all lower case).
This is to make sure you remember the mnemonic and confirm that you wrote it down correctly.
After verifying your 12 or 24-word phrase, you will be prompted to select any other Cosmos Hub networks you'd like to add to your wallet.
No need to add any other networks if you don't plan on using them yet. You can always select more networks later.
However, it is advisable to have 'Cosmos Hub' selected when creating your new wallet.
Once you've selected the relevant networks you want to use, click 'Save' and you'll be all set to go.
Regardless of whether you already have a wallet or if you just created it, you can now click on the Keplr extension to view your address or visit https://wallet.keplr.app/?tab=overview to see your full Keplr dashboard.
If you don't already have some AXL in your wallet, you can fund it with some tokens. You may use an exchange to transfer the tokens to your address or get them from a trusted third party that already holds some.
If you want to stake from the browser extension wallet, you can either navigate to the Keplr dashboard (shown below) or scroll down on the wallet screen and select AXL.
Alternatively, you can connect Keplr to the Mintscan explorer and stake to the Chorus One validator at this address: axelarvaloper16pj5gljqnqs0ajxakccfjhu05yczp987zac7km
Next, you will be prompted to stake.
Once you are on the Keplr dashboard, to stake, click on the 'Stake' tab on the left-hand side of the dashboard.
Once there, you will see three steps highlighted in the pink box in the screenshot below.
Scroll through the list or search for the chain you want, in this case AXL.
Once you've chosen the Chorus One validator, select how much AXL you wish to stake, then click the 'Stake' button at the bottom of the screen.
Clicking on Stake will take you to the Keplr wallet for approval. Approve the transaction, and you will be able to see your stake.
Next, you will likely be returned to the dashboard interface for AXL and see a screen similar to the following.
Please note that AXL has a 21-day unbonding process (also known as unstaking).
During this period, your stake no longer earns rewards and cannot be transferred, exchanged, or spent.
However, you can cancel the unstaking process if you wish without penalty.
After some time, you will see rewards accumulating in your wallet.
You can simply go to the Keplr dashboard to claim them by selecting 'Claim' and approving the transaction.
If you wish to unstake your AXL, you can do so from the same interface in Keplr that you used to stake.
Simply click on the validator you wish to unstake from, and you will be prompted with the following screen.
Please note that AXL undergoes a 21-day unbonding period when unstaking.
To proceed, click on 'Unstake' and follow the prompts to select the amount of AXL you wish to unstake.
Then confirm and sign the transaction in your wallet.
And that's it! Your AXL will begin unbonding, which you can track from your Keplr dashboard under the Staking tab.
You can view and manage all ongoing unstaking transactions (undelegations) from your Keplr dashboard and cancel them if you change your mind.
After the unbonding period is complete, you will be able to transact with your unstaked AXL again!
