T-System’s Head of Blockchain Research, Dirk Röder stated, ”Our cooperation partner StakeWise collects individual Ether tokens from many different owners and merges them into validator nodes. These validator nodes are provided and operated as infrastructure by T-Systems MMS.”
T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom will operate validator nodes to allow its clients to participate in Ethereum staking
According to its press release, the Telecom giant’s T-Systems MMS division will oversee this venture. It will partner up with StakeWise DAO to run the validator on the Ethereum network.
Röder added,
“As a node operator, our entry into liquid staking and the close collaboration with a DAO is a novelty for Deutsche Telekom”
Liquid staking unlocks the liquidity of staked assets, allowing users to transfer their assets whenever they desire. Users receive a representative token after they deposit their assets for staking. The token can be used in a similar way to a regular token. Thus, liquid staking provides the flexibility of using their assets and simultaneously earning staking rewards.
One needs to deposit 32 ETH to take part as a validator, thus increasing the cost of setting up a validator node. Deutsche Telekom claims that its new staking product will attract more customers as it is a lot cheaper than running a node.
StakeWise’s co-founder, Kirill Kutakov, said
“With the move to Proof-of-Stake, we expect strong demand and significantly increasing capital flows in the Ethereum network.”
This is not Deutsche Telekom’s first venture into blockchain technology. In 2021, it made a sizable investment in Celo. The firm also collaborated with Polkadot and Flow last year.
