Anchorage Digital ties in Puffer Finance for institutional Ethereum restaking

The integration allows institutions to stake Ether held in Anchorage custody and receive Puffer’s liquid restaking token while earning staking and restaking rewards.

Anchorage Digital has integrated with Puffer Finance to give institutional clients access to Ethereum liquid restaking through its custody platform.

According to Thursday’s announcement, institutions can stake Ether held with Anchorage and receive Puffer’s liquid restaking token, pufETH, directly into their accounts. The token represents a restaked ETH (ETH) position that can be transferred or deployed across supported onchain applications while continuing to earn staking and restaking rewards.

Institutions using the platform can participate in restaking without running validators or managing staking infrastructure themselves.

The integration allows clients to access Puffer’s restaking protocol while keeping assets within Anchorage’s custody and governance framework, avoiding the need to move funds across multiple platforms.

Anchorage said the integration is part of a broader effort to expand institutional access to onchain services through its platform, including staking, restaking, governance and settlement.

Anchorage Digital is a crypto custody company headquartered in San Francisco that operates the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States.

In January, the company was reported to be seeking between $200 million and $400 million in new funding as it explores a potential initial public offering sometime next year.

Liquid restaking expands across Ethereum ecosystem

Restaking has emerged as a new layer of activity in proof-of-stake networks such as Ether, allowing already staked tokens to be reused to secure additional decentralized services while generating additional rewards.

In liquid restaking systems, staked Ether is represented by a tradable token that can be reused through restaking protocols to help secure additional decentralized services.

Much of the restaking ecosystem has developed around EigenLayer, a protocol launched by Eigen Labs that enables staked Ether or liquid staking tokens to secure additional onchain services beyond the Ethereum network.

Over the past few years, liquid restaking has grown into a multibillion-dollar sector within the Ethereum ecosystem. According to data from DefiLlama, protocols offering liquid restaking collectively hold about $7.2 billion in total value locked (TVL).