One out of every five surveyed institutional investors had over 60% of their portfolio allocated to Ethereum or an ETH-based LST. The study highlights that 52.6% of these institutional investors are using liquid staking tokens (LSTs), with a majority of investors using only one integrated platform like Coinbase and Binance.
Furthermore, 60.6% of surveyed institutional investors were found to be utilizing third-party staking platforms. Additionally, liquidity and security were deemed the most crucial features for institutional investors when deciding whether staking is a viable option.
On a scale of 1 to 10, liquidity scored an average importance of 8.5, reflecting concerns about exiting large LST positions if necessary. Security scored even higher, with an average importance rating of 9.4, driven by worries over withdrawal efficiency in volatile market conditions.
The study included exchanges, custodians, investment firms, asset managers, wallet providers, and banks.
Key factors considered by institutional investors in selecting a staking provider were reputation, range of networks supported, price, simple onboarding, competitive costs, and expertise and scalability.
A recent report by Blockworks Research has revealed that nearly 70% of institutional investors holding Ethereum (ETH) are engaged in staking.
