Gemini Expands UK Ethereum and Solana Staking Access

Gemini’s move in the UK around Ethereum staking feels like the other side of the same story. On August 26 they rolled out staking for both Solana and ETH, with no minimum requirement, which makes it a lot more approachable than their old 32 ETH barrier. The timing lines up with the UK Treasury clarifying earlier this year that staking shouldn’t be treated like an investment scheme, but more like infrastructure. That regulatory shift gave exchanges a green light, and Gemini clearly wanted to be first to build on it. Offering variable yields on ETH and up to six percent on SOL might not sound extraordinary compared to DeFi platforms, but it’s significant when wrapped in a regulated, mainstream exchange product.

Rising Institutional Demand for ETH Staking

Institutional demand for ETH staking keeps rising. Figment’s numbers show that since June the validator entry queue has stayed packed at around 300 to 350k ETH waiting to get in, which is close to a billion dollars worth of locked demand at any given time. Spot ETH ETFs have also seen nearly 700 million in inflows over the past month. Combined with yields hovering around 4.5 to 5.2 percent, it positions staking as a credible yield product for investors who might otherwise be in bonds. The SEC’s May clarification on staking as a protocol activity has only strengthened this narrative.

Zooming out, stablecoins as a whole are now above 237 billion in circulation. USD1 is only the sixth largest, still dwarfed by USDT at 151 billion and USDC at 60 billion, but its political support and integration with tools like Chainlink CCIP for cross-chain transactions make it stand out. Using BitGo custody also signals an effort to address the usual criticism about transparency and security. That said, research from the NBER keeps pointing out risks. They run probabilities in the 3 to 4 percent range annually, which is far higher than what traditional banking customers are used to. It suggests stablecoins remain structurally fragile, even when scaled.

Global Regulations Shaping Ethereum Staking Policies

What Gemini did in the UK fits a wider global pattern. Hong Kong regulators just cleared HashKey to let ETFs include Ethereum staking, the EU’s MiCA framework now directly covers staking tokens, Singapore has its sandbox model, and Switzerland keeps drawing institutional players with clear rules. Germany’s tax treatment and the UAE’s free zones show how policy design directly pulls capital into these markets. The UK’s latest step signals they want to compete in this field too.

Institutional players are leaning harder into ETH. Goldman Sachs reportedly boosted their ETH ETF exposure to nearly half a billion, a huge jump in late 2024, and JPMorgan analysts see Ethereum outperforming Bitcoin through upgrades and ETF inflows. Roughly half of the entire stablecoin market already operates on Ethereum, which makes staking not just a yield play but an infrastructure story. With providers competing through MEV optimization and validator performance, there’s even an emerging “alpha” layer inside staking itself.

ETH to BTC Ratio and Future Outlook

The ETH to BTC ratio sitting near 0.065 still looks weak by historical standards, but many predict a climb back toward 0.08 or 0.1 as Ethereum’s utility gains traction. Whether that happens depends on how much weight investors put on yield, scalability upgrades, and the role of stablecoins. Taken together, USD1’s fast scaling and Gemini’s staking expansion reflect a shift away from speculation and toward crypto as structured financial infrastructure.