Anchorage Digital unlocks Lido staking without leaving custody

Anchorage Digital has integrated Lido into its institutional platform, allowing clients to access wrapped staked Ether (wstETH) while keeping assets inside its regulated custody environment.

According to a July 2 announcement from Anchorage Digital, institutional clients can now connect directly to the Lido application to mint and burn wstETH without transferring assets outside the firm’s custody platform.

The integration lets investors earn Ethereum staking exposure while continuing to use the custody, governance, reporting, and settlement processes they already rely on.

Institutions can stake Ethereum without moving assets

The newly added service centers on wstETH, a liquid staking token that represents staked Ether while remaining transferable. Instead of distributing staking rewards directly, the token’s value increases relative to stETH over time, allowing institutions to retain liquidity alongside staking exposure.

Commenting on the launch, Anchorage Digital co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley said liquid staking has become one of Ethereum’s most important components for institutional participation.

“By integrating with Lido, we’re giving institutions access to wstETH without the operational or security tradeoffs that have historically kept large allocators on the sidelines.”

Anchorage Digital, which operates the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, said clients can now complete staking-related activity without moving assets across multiple providers. The company said keeping custody, staking, governance, and settlement within one regulated platform simplifies institutional operations.

Earlier this week, as reported by crypto.news, Anchorage Digital also expanded its institutional infrastructure through a partnership with Binance. The agreement allows eligible institutional clients to trade on Binance while keeping assets in segregated custody through Anchorage’s Atlas platform. Binance said the arrangement separates custody from trade execution, mirroring practices commonly used in traditional financial markets.

Lido highlights security and institutional demand

Interest from institutional investors has continued to grow as staking infrastructure and regulation have matured, according to Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation.

Gilbert told Crypto Briefing that asset managers, liquid funds, and Ether treasury holders have increasingly sought custody-based access to staking because it reduces operational complexity and compliance concerns while fitting existing institutional workflows.

The first phase of the integration focuses on minting and burning wstETH inside Anchorage Digital. Institutions can convert ETH into wstETH and redeem it back through the platform, while the token remains transferable for collateral use or deployment into other investment strategies.

Unlike conventional staking positions that often require investors to wait before withdrawing funds, wstETH can be transferred without first exiting the underlying staking position. According to Lido, this gives institutions additional flexibility while preserving exposure to Ethereum staking rewards.

Gilbert also pointed to Lido’s security record as institutional adoption continues to expand. He said the protocol has spent more than $4 million on smart contract audits, received an A+ security rating from independent firms including Credora, and has operated since 2020 without a smart contract exploit.

He added that Lido distributes staked Ether across more than 900 node operators, with no individual operator controlling more than 1% of the network, reducing reliance on any single participant.

Looking ahead, Gilbert said that institutional adoption will depend on whether staking products fit existing operational requirements. He said making wstETH available through Anchorage Digital brings the token onto a major U.S. institutional platform and strengthens the role of Lido’s staking infrastructure for professional Ethereum investors.