HashKey Group Launches EPotter, Asia's First Institutional-Grade Proof-of-Stake Liquid Validation Service, and Debuts Liquid Staking Token epETH

HONG KONG, Sept. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — HashKey Group ("HashKey" or the "Group"), a digital asset financial services house in Asia, has launched EPotter, an institutional-grade proof-of-stake liquid validation solution. The first such service based out of Asia, EPotter has also introduced the epETH token, an ERC-20 liquid representation of ownership of the underlying locked ETH and any rewards earned from staking.

Owning the transferrable epETH token could allow epETH tokenholders ("Tokenholders") to earn validation rewards while maintaining the flexibility to be able to trade it on secondary markets if so desired – an approach that gives it an edge over traditional Ether ("ETH") staking, which currently requires ETH to be locked up until withdrawal functionality is enabled on the Ethereum blockchain (expected to happen in 2023 after the "Shanghai upgrade"). 

Certain investors can acquire epETH with ETH, fiat or other digital assets through the servicing agent. Investors’ ETH will subsequently be locked on the Ethereum blockchain, while the validation service provider will help to validate transactions and accrete validation rewards for the epETH token holder. At launch, 1 epETH is equivalent to 1 ETH.

Table 1. Key Terms of epETH

Nejteh Demirian, Head of Business Development of HashKey Group, said, "Recent market volatility and platform incidents within the digital asset ecosystem has resulted in heightened demand for reliable service providers."

"HashKey’s EPotter’s proof-of-stake liquid validator node solutions are now offering epETH, affording token holders 100% exposure to Ethereum, while reaping the economic benefits of yield generated through the validator node operations. EPotter selectively engages with service partners that offer digital access platforms and KYC/AML processes in addition to the benefits of on-chain transparency. These features are highly valued by institutional investors and are currently not offered by our peers to the same level of technological competence."

Wancloud Limited ("HashQuark") has been chosen as the validation services provider for epETH, where not only will it provide transaction validation services by operating the staked ETH validation nodes on behalf of Tokenholders, but it will also bear the cost of any slashing penalties. HashQuark, founded in 2018, is regularly ranked among the Top 10 staking-as-a-service providers in the world by assets under management, and it currently supports staking on over 40 mainstream blockchains including Ethereum, Polkadot and Solana. HashQuark recently had over USD3.2 billion of total value of assets under service, and approximately 4% of total ETH staked before the "Merge".

The launch of EPotter comes at a time when the Ethereum network has just recently completed its official transition from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake blockchain. According to a recent report by ConsenSys, custodians and organisations have increasingly been allocating their ETH for staking over the past months, and institutional demand in proof-of-stake validation is expected to continue to rise after the successful "Merge", which occurred on September 15 2022.

Michel Lee, Executive President of HashKey Group, said, "The strong demand from institutional investors in ETH proof-of-stake validation of late epitomises the institutional market’s readiness and eagerness to take advantage of the passive income-generating opportunities and other benefits that proof-of-stake validation brings, and EPotter is a response to that growing market need. We will continue to build bespoke technology services and robust solutions to demonstrate and position HashKey Group as one of the premier options for institutions who are looking to construct and accelerate their digital asset portfolios."

HashKey aims to become the one-stop destination for institutions and professional investors based in Asia to participate in the digital asset ecosystem. HashKey Capital Limited, which forms part of the investment arm of HashKey, has recently been granted an uplift of its Type 9 asset management licence by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong ("SFC") to manage funds consisting of entirely virtual assets. The Group has also secured in-principle approval in April 2022 from the SFC to deal in virtual assets and operate a virtual asset trading platform under the Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) licences respectively. In addition, HashKey Me, a non-custodial wallet, and HashKey DID, a smart-contract-based decentralised identifier protocol, have both recently released new features to enhance the Web3 experience for its users.

Learn more about EPotter and epETH:
www.epotter.io/

For media enquiries, please contact:
Jason Li                           
jason.li@hashkey.com                                                 

About HashKey Group 

HashKey Group is an end-to-end digital asset financial services group in Asia. The Group provides a complete ecosystem across the entire digital asset landscape, ranging from trading, custody, venture investment, technologies to Web3 infrastructure. HashKey’s senior team has decades of investment and trading experience, strong business execution and deep market insights gained from tier-one banks, regulators and FinTech ventures. By bringing together the most advanced blockchain research and development and technologies, HashKey identifies potential opportunities and delivers end-to-end solutions that operate within regulatory frameworks with the highest compliance standards. The Group has operations in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, and extensive partnerships with FinTech and blockchain solutions providers, academic institutions and associations.
Official website: https://www.hashkey.com

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