We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Northstake, joining their ETH Validator Marketplace as a trusted node operator. This collaboration represents a significant step forward in delivering secure, scalable, and compliant staking infrastructure for institutional clients.
The partnership brings together Northstake’s innovative staking model and Chorus One’s industry-leading validator infrastructure. Northstake’s ETH Validator Marketplace enables asset managers to trade ETH validator positions with top-tier market makers, including GSR, Nonco, DV Chain, and Keyrock. This approach provides a new layer of liquidity and flexibility for institutional staking—a key milestone for the $2.9 trillion staking market.
As a partner, we will power the marketplace with robust, reliable, and secure node infrastructure, enhancing the confidence of institutions in staking operations. Our expertise in Ethereum validator operations ensures reduced risk, including protection against slashing penalties, while providing clients with cutting-edge technology to support staking at scale.
Institutional staking requires more than just infrastructure—it demands compliance, reliability, and security. Together with Northstake, we are creating a foundation for regulated financial institutions to stake digital assets confidently, with the assurance of industry-best practices and safeguards.
Jesper Johansen, CEO & Founder of Northstake, shared his vision for the partnership:
“At Northstake, we are transforming how regulated financial institutions stake digital assets in a secure and compliant way. Partnering with Chorus One aligns perfectly with our goal of being the foundation for financial institutions as they incorporate staking into their products.”
Brian Fabian Crain, our CEO & Co-Founder, highlighted:
“Northstake’s ETH Validator Marketplace emerges as the leading staking solution for financial regulated institutions, who need access to liquidity and value regulatory compliance. We are excited to bring our expertise to this partnership, ensuring staking operations that meet the highest industry standards.”
With a proven track record of securing over $3.2 billion in staked assets across 60+ leading blockchain networks, Chorus One is proud to bring its expertise to support Northstake’s mission. We’re excited to embark on this transformative partnership journey! Learn more about Northstake: https://www.northstake.dk.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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 is excited to announce our partnership with Fragmetric, a leading liquid restaking protocol on Solana.
Restaking, one of the most significant innovations in the crypto space in recent years, is now arriving on Solana through Jito Restaking. This platform will leverage Solana native assets to support Node Consensus Networks (NCNs), applications that deliver services to Solana users.
While progress in liquid restaking has been impressive, the space still faces challenges that slow down its growth:
Fragmetric solves these issues with $fragSOL, an innovative liquid restaking token (LRT) powered by Solana's unique features:
Stay tuned as Chorus One shapes the future of restaking with Fragmetric and $fragSOL!
About Fragmetric
Fragmetric is a native liquid restaking protocol on Solana, with a vision of enhancing the Solana ecosystem's security and economic potential. Through implementing advantage of Solana's token extension, Fragmetric has effectively implemented NCN reward distribution. Furthermore, Fragmetric designed practical solutions, the Normalized Token Program for leveraging various LSTs in restaking platforms. Fragmetric’s mission is to build a secure, transparent, and highly efficient restaking infrastructure that empowers users and supports the stability of the Solana's restaking ecosystem.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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.
The TON blockchain has emerged as a promising platform, but for institutions (wallets, exchanges, custodians etc.) looking to offer Toncoin staking to their customers, current options come with serious limitations. From high staking minimums to complex pool management, existing solutions fall short of meeting the needs of large-scale, flexible staking.
Recognizing this gap, we have launched TON Pool – a staking solution designed to meet the unique requirements of institutional players while making Toncoin staking simpler, more efficient, and scalable.
The TON ecosystem currently offers the Nominator Pool and Single Nominator contracts as staking options. However, both models restrict the number of delegators and impose high minimum stake requirements, which limits accessibility for larger institutions that manage staking services for numerous clients. These limitations force institutions to distribute stakes manually across multiple pools, adding operational complexity and increasing transaction fees, while impacting the final yield. (We covered the current TON staking mechanisms in detail here.)
With these pain points in mind, we saw an opportunity to create a tailored solution that eliminates these barriers and optimizes staking for our customers needs.
TON Pool addresses the shortcomings of current models by providing a flexible, high-efficiency staking solution that scales for larger institutions and various service providers. TON Pool aggregates Toncoin from an unlimited number of users into a single pool, offering seamless in-protocol distribution across multiple validators and removing the need for complex management. The result? A more streamlined, cost-effective, and yield-optimized staking experience for institutions and their customers.
TON Pool is designed for:
One of the most significant advantages of TON Pool is its streamlined staking flow. Here’s a comparison of how staking works with traditional models versus TON Pool:
With TON Pool, customers no longer need to juggle multiple addresses or pay per transaction. Instead, they delegate once, paying a single fee, while all technical complexities are managed seamlessly within the protocol.
“TON Pool is our answer to the challenges institutions face when staking on the TON blockchain. We built this solution to remove unnecessary steps, lower costs, and provide a scalable option for institutions that require a higher degree of flexibility. TON Pool makes staking more accessible and profitable, which we believe is essential to driving the TON ecosystem forward,” - Brian Fabian Crain, CEO, Chorus One.
For more details about TON Pool and to get exclusive discounted commission rates, reach out at staking@chorus.one, and sign up now to be among the first to experience streamlined, scalable Toncoin staking.
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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.
The cryptocurrency ecosystem experienced a remarkable month in September 2024, marked by market resilience, major network developments, and high-profile events, such as Token2049. Key networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Cosmos made significant strides, and institutional momentum surged. With a blend of market performance, regulatory clarity, and network advancements, the month underscored the growing maturity and interconnectedness of the crypto landscape.
Bitcoin (BTC) defied its typical September slump, recording its best monthly performance in over a decade with a 7.3% gain and closing just above $63K. This historic uptrend pushed Bitcoin’s market cap beyond $1.2 trillion, with daily trading volumes averaging $32.4 billion. This surge in Bitcoin’s value reflects increased institutional demand, aided by global monetary easing and a weaker U.S. dollar, which created favorable market conditions.
Despite geopolitical uncertainties, Bitcoin maintained a solid position above $60K, signaling strong market confidence as investors anticipate a continued rally in “Uptober.”
In contrast, Ethereum (ETH) underperformed relative to Bitcoin, with the ETH/BTC pair hitting a three-and-a-half-year low. Still, the broader market momentum remained intact, driven by regulatory developments:
Ethereum’s ecosystem made strides in scalability and infrastructure development, though it faced challenges in price performance. Notable developments included:
September was an active month for Bitcoin staking initiatives. Babylon Labs raised its second deposit cap, opening the door for increased staking participation. With nearly 23889.62550726 BTC deposited (~$1.5B), Babylon has now claimed the spot as the third largest restaking protocol by TVL, right behind EigenLayer and Symbiotic.
The Cosmos ecosystem introduced major upgrades and partnerships:
Institutional momentum and regulatory clarity played a crucial role in September’s market performance. Alongside Bitcoin’s success, Ethereum, Solana, and Cosmos made significant progress in staking infrastructure and interoperability. The introduction of EigenLayer incentives and Solayer partnerships highlighted the importance of restaking for both network security and validator rewards.
With the UK clarifying digital asset ownership, Nigeria issuing exchange licenses, and Kazakhstan approving Binance’s operations, the global crypto landscape continues to evolve toward greater regulatory clarity and acceptance.
September 2024 marked a significant shift toward market maturity, with key networks delivering on governance, scaling, and restaking initiatives. As Bitcoin continues to trade above $60K, and Ethereum advances with Layer 2 and restaking solutions, the market is well-positioned for further growth in Q4 2024.
The market’s ability to weather geopolitical uncertainty while embracing new technologies and regulatory frameworks reflects its resilience and readiness for wider institutional adoption. The combination of network upgrades, governance innovations, and cross-chain interoperability suggests a promising future for the decentralized economy.
As we move into Q4, the focus remains on sustaining market momentum, and unlocking the full potential of (re)staking infrastructure—setting the stage for another transformative phase in the blockchain industry.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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.
At Chorus One, our primary goal is to provide our users with the best possible experience across a wide variety of networks. In light of current market conditions and lower network activity, we’ve made the decision to offboard a few networks. This change allows us to streamline our focus and dedicate more resources to networks that offer stronger long-term growth and user adoption.
While we have enjoyed working with and supporting these networks, we’ve observed a few trends that have led to this decision:
If you’re currently staking tokens on any of the networks we are offboarding, please take note of the following important details:
In alignment with our focus on networks that demonstrate long-term sustainability and growth, we will be adjusting our staking fees on the following networks:
These fee changes reflect our ongoing efforts to ensure high-quality service while maintaining sustainable operations across networks with strong potential.
This decision allows us to allocate more resources and attention to the networks that show the most promise in terms of activity, user growth, and long-term sustainability. As we continue to grow and evolve, we remain committed to offering the best staking services and supporting the most innovative and active networks in the industry.
If you have any questions or need assistance with unstaking your tokens, our support team is here to help. Feel free to reach out to us via support@chorus.one.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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.
Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) is critical to blockchains, particularly on networks like Ethereum and Solana. With sub-second block times and high throughput, Solana has unique challenges and opportunities in the MEV space. Unlike Ethereum's block-building marketplace model, Solana's mempool-less architecture has led to a different MEV extraction dynamic characterized by high-speed competition and potential network congestion.
Solana's unique features, including Gulf Stream for mempool-less transaction forwarding, have enabled remarkable speed and efficiency. However, these same features have also created an MEV landscape that requires innovative approaches.
The current methods of MEV extraction on Solana have several drawbacks. Searchers competing on latency often flood the network with duplicate transactions to ensure MEV capture, leading to periods of intense congestion and failing transaction processing for all users.
The winner-takes-all nature of Solana MEV opportunities results in a high rate of failed transactions. These failed transactions still consume compute resources and network bandwidths. Studies have shown that up to 75% of transactions interacting with DEX aggregators can fail during periods of high activity.
Moreover, the concentration of MEV capture among a few players threatens network decentralization as these entities accumulate more resources and influence. In Ethereum, the use of external searchers and block-builders has led to private order flow deals, resulting in extreme centralization where a single builder creating over 50% of Ethereum blocks, with only two builders responsible for 95% and four entities building 99% of all blocks.
Paladin introduces a solution to address these issues. It consists of two main components:
The Paladin bot is a high-speed, open-source arb bot that runs locally on validators. It works only when the validator is the leader and is integrated with the Jito-client. By running directly on the validator, it captures all riskless and straightforward MEV opportunities (e.g., atomic arbitrage, CeFi/DeFi arbitrage) faster than searchers, without needing to outsource these opportunities and pay around 20% of the MEV to external entities. Any non-supported, or more advanced MEV strategies that the Paladin bot doesn’t recognize can still be captured by the Jito auction, making it a net positive for the ecosystem.
The bot listens to state updates from the geyser interface, allowing real-time opportunity detection. Validators can choose which tokens and protocols to interact with, allowing more conservative validators to alleviate legal concerns about interacting directly with tokens they deem securities.
The PAL token is designed to align the incentives of validators and users and create a robust MEV extraction mechanism. With the entire supply of one billion airdropped at launch, PAL is distributed among validators, their stakers, Solana builders, the team, and a development fund.
PAL can be staked by validators and their delegators, with rewards proportional to their SOL stake. The token has a unique MEV distribution mechanism, where 10% of captured MEV is funneled to PAL token holders, with 97.5% going back to validators and their stakers. Most staked PALs can vote to slash the staked PAL of validators who engage in dishonest actions, such as running closed-source modifications of Paladin, instead of adhering to the "just run Paladin" principle.
Paladin's design creates dynamics that contribute to its sustainability. The "Pack of Wolves" dynamic incentivizes validators to "run with the pack" by honestly running Paladin. Going against the pack risks slashing and loss of rewards. This creates a self-reinforcing system of honest behavior.
As more validators run Paladin, a flywheel effect is created. More MEV is funneled to PAL holders, increasing the value of PAL and further incentivizing participation. This alignment of long-term interests incentivizes validators to behave honestly rather than pursue short-term gains through harmful practices like frontrunning.
Moreover, by allowing all validators to participate in MEV extraction, Paladin prevents centralization while still allowing searchers to implement more specialized strategies. The bot's open-source nature and transparent reward distribution create a fairer MEV landscape, benefiting the entire Solana ecosystem.
At Chorus One, we recognize Paladin's transformative potential. We've taken the proactive step of integrating Paladin into one of our Solana validators, Chorus One Palidator.
If you have been following Chorus One, you would know we have a deep interest in MEV. Almost two years back, we open-sourced our proof-of-concept called ‘Breaking Bots’ to capture MEV on Solana efficiently and ethically. Paladin’s proposition is similar in spirit but takes a different approach with the PAL token, which was not part of our proof-of-concept.
The integration of Paladin with our validator is a significant step in addressing the challenges of MEV on Solana. We invite Solana stakers to join us in this effort by delegating to our Palidator. Let’s move towards a model that benefits all participants rather than a select few.
As the MEV landscape evolves, Chorus One is committed to exploring and implementing solutions that benefit our delegators and the wider Solana community.
Blog articles
https://chorus.one/articles/metrics-that-matter
https://chorus.one/articles/solana-mev-client-an-alternative-way-to-capture-mev-on-solana
https://chorus.one/articles/solana-validator-economics
https://chorus.one/articles/analyzing-mev-instances-on-solana-part-3
https://chorus.one/articles/analyzing-mev-instances-on-solana-part-2
https://chorus.one/articles/analyzing-mev-instances-on-solana-part-1
Podcasts
Solana's Next Big Moves: From Memecoins to Staking—What's Coming Next?
Exploring Marinade V2 and the state of Solana Staking
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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.
We're thrilled to partner with Hex Trust, a leading licensed digital asset custodian. This collaboration combines Chorus One's institutional-grade staking infrastructure with Hex Trust's robust custody services, enhancing Hex Trust's offerings and providing more clients with advanced staking solutions.
"Chorus One is excited to collaborate with Hex Trust to expand staking services. This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to making staking accessible, secure, and fully compliant for institutional clients." — Brian Crain, CEO of Chorus One
Chorus One has maintained a proven track record as a leader in institutional-grade staking. With the largest network support in the industry and an ISO 27001:2022 certification, we are well-positioned to support Hex Trust in delivering high-quality staking services to its clients. This partnership combines an APAC-based licensed custodian with a leading staking provider to deliver compliant and secure staking options across the region.
Staking in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains presents a compelling opportunity for institutions like Hex Trust. It provides a secure and predictable way to generate rewards, leveraging the native token inflation and transaction fees of the blockchain. This results in a consistent revenue stream that is less volatile than traditional crypto trading.
Moreover, by participating in staking, institutions not only earn rewards but also contribute to the overall security and governance of the network. This active involvement helps strengthen the network's reliability and promotes the long-term growth of the Web3 ecosystem, aligning with the broader goals of financial innovation and digital asset adoption.
Established in 2018, Hex Trust is a fully licensed digital asset custodian dedicated to providing comprehensive services for protocols, foundations, financial institutions, and the Web3 ecosystem. Hex Trust offers a suite of services including custody, DeFi, brokerage, and more, all built on a regulated infrastructure. For more information, visit hextrust.com or follow Hex Trust on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram.
Hex Trust Disclaimer: Products or services mentioned in this material are subject to legal and regulatory requirements in applicable jurisdictions and may not be available in all jurisdictions.
Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 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.
This partnership marks a significant step in our shared mission to make staking more accessible and secure for institutional clients. We look forward to the continued growth and success of this collaboration.
We’re excited to announce the launch of our latest product, the Obol DV Vault, through which stakers can participate in the Obol Collective’s new Contributions Program. By staking on distributed validators using the Chorus One DV vault, stakers meaningfully take part in the Obol Collective’s mission—to scale Ethereum by securing and decentralizing the consensus layer. With Obol DVs contributing 1% of daily staking rewards to the Obol retroactive funding program focused on scaling Ethereum infrastructure, stakers’ contributions will be tracked and serve as a basis for future governance and ownership of the Obol Collective.
The Obol DV Vault joins our MEV Max Vault as Chorus One's suite of ETH validation options. Both vaults are built on the Stakewise V3 and support staking without any minimum ETH requirements and the optional minting of osETH.
🌟 Our customers have have the flexibility to choose between our MEV-Max Vault and the new Obol Vault. You can stake to this vault directly via Stakewise or effortlessly through our ETH staking dApp, OPUS Pool, which also enables restaking with EigenLayer or Symbiotic.
The Collective is fueled by Obol’s economic model, which directs 1% of staking rewards from DVs to ecosystem projects via retroactive funding - a positive flywheel to accelerate adoption of DVs and scale the consensus layer.
To accelerate the adoption of DVs and grow participation in the Obol Collective, those staking on distributed validators and thus making contributions to the Obol RAF will be tracked and recognized.
The aim is to encourage continuous participation and sustained support in the health and growth of Ethereum consensus. The Obol Contributions program is thus built to be fair and transparent, without arbitrary gimmicks that promote short-term interest at the cost of long-term participation.
Contributions are tracked in an off-chain centralized database, and will serve as the basis for future community ownership of the Obol Collective.
Learn more about the Contribution program at Obol.org/contributions.
Learn more about Obol Collective’s Obol retroactive funding program here.
The Obol Vault is relevant for:
The Obol Vault benefits ETH stakers by:
Users can join the Obol Contribution Program by staking ETH through our Obol DV Vault on OPUS Pool, where they can also easily track their contributions.
Chorus One validators automatically make contributions based on the rewards in gwei that are received in a day, with 1% of these going to the Obol Collective’s retroactive funding program. Each address that is present in a reward splitter will be recognized for their contributions based on the percentage of the rewards received for each DV cluster. The lowest level at which contributions are made is at the validator level which can be aggregated into addresses, clusters, operators, and protocol if relevant. For more information, visit Obol’s docs.
Chorus One is proud to be at the forefront of enhancing Ethereum’s security and decentralisation through our partnership with the Obol Collective. The launch of the Obol Vault represents a significant milestone in our mission to support the Ethereum ecosystem and we invite all ETH stakers, institutional investors, and ecosystem contributors to join us in this exciting initiative. Together, we can build a more secure, resilient, and decentralized Ethereum for the future. Let’s make Ethereum stronger, together.
For more information on how to get started with the Obol Vault, please reach out to us at https://chorusone.my.salesforce-sites.com/WebToLead or email at staking@chorus.one, or visit obol.org/contributions.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for 60+ Proof-of-Stake networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near, amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures. We are a team of over 50 passionate individuals spread throughout the globe who believe in the transformative power of blockchain technology.
