BNY has partnered with blockchain infrastructure provider Figment to add staking capabilities to its Digital Asset Custody platform, the companies announced on Thursday, November 12. The service will allow eligible institutional clients—including asset managers, exchange-traded fund issuers, corporates, and wealth management firms—to earn staking rewards without establishing a separate custody relationship with a validator operator. Ethereum (ETH) will be the first supported asset, with Solana (SOL) expected to follow, according to Figment. No launch date, expected client assets, commercial terms, or fee structure were disclosed.
Under the arrangement, BNY provides the custody framework and client-facing services, while Figment supplies validator infrastructure for proof-of-stake networks. BNY Head of Digital Asset Custody Ralf Roth said institutional demand is increasingly focused on how staking services are delivered rather than access alone, and that integrating staking into a trusted custody environment can offer security, oversight, and accountability. Figment Head of Revenue Josh Deems said the company will contribute validator infrastructure and staking expertise to the BNY platform.
The move extends BNY's digital asset strategy, which began with the launch of its custody service in October 2022, initially supporting bitcoin and ether for select clients. The bank later expanded its custody relationship with Ripple to include XRP and RLUSD, and outlined plans for eligible clients to mint and redeem RLUSD through the bank. In October 2026, BNY also expanded its Digital Asset Custody platform to selected European Union institutions under the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework.
Figment says it serves more than 1,500 institutional clients, including asset managers, custodians, exchanges, wallets, and asset managers. Its previous collaboration with Coinbase Prime supported more than $2 billion in staked assets by October 2025, with support later expanded to networks including Solana, Cardano, and Sui. The BNY partnership follows an August 2026 agreement with Galaxy for institutional staking, but the companies have not clarified how Figment's role will overlap with or differ from Galaxy's existing responsibilities.
While the service could reduce operational complexity, staking involves blockchain-specific risks such as validator penalties or slashing on Ethereum, and Solana uses different delegation and reward mechanisms. Staking rewards are variable rather than guaranteed investment income, and the commercial impact will depend on client adoption, assets delegated, fees, supported jurisdictions, and applicable regulatory conditions.
