Interactive Brokers Launches Ethereum Staking Service with Up to 30% Fee Deduction

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Ethereum news broke Tuesday as Interactive Brokers (IBKR) launched ETH staking for U.S. clients via Zero Hash. Users can stake any amount of ETH, with rewards paid in ETH and automatic compounding. Clients receive at least 70% of network rewards, while the platform retains up to 30%. The fee is higher than Lido but comparable to Coinbase. Staked assets are not SIPC-insured, and the service is unavailable in four states. The announcement underscores growing institutional interest in staking options.

On October 13, 2026, Beijing Time, Nasdaq-listed online brokerage Interactive Brokers (stock code: IBKR) announced the official launch of its Ethereum (ETH) staking service. Eligible U.S. customers can submit staking and unstaking requests through the staking dashboard on its official trading platform. The service is powered by the B2B crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash, and customers will receive at least 70% of the network staking rewards, compounded over time.

Staking Mechanism Design and Fee Yield Comparison

According to officially disclosed rules, Interactive Brokers' staking service eliminates the 32 ETH funding requirement for individual independent validation nodes, allowing clients to stake any amount of Ethereum in their accounts.

Rewards from customer staking will be distributed directly in the form of staked Ethereum and will not be automatically converted into fiat currency. Additional stakes will be automatically added to the principal and enter the next staking cycle, enabling compound interest accumulation on-chain.

Under the allocation mechanism, the protocol stipulates that qualified customers receive at least 70% of the network staking rewards, with no more than 30% deducted by the operator as fees for technical infrastructure and channel services.

Compared to the current industry fee structure, the decentralized liquid staking protocol Lido charges only a 10% management fee, while Interactive Brokers and Zero Hash set commission rates three times higher than Lido’s, roughly aligning with Coinbase’s (COIN) 25% to 35% fee range for retail users. Based on the current Ethereum network-wide staking benchmark annual yield of approximately 3.2%, after deducting the maximum 30% service fee, clients’ net annualized yield amounts to approximately 2.24%.

Legal Custody Responsibilities and SIPC Protection Boundaries

Unlike crypto-native exchanges that operate their own staking, Interactive Brokers serves only as a front-end interface and customer service support provider throughout the on-chain business process. Interactive Brokers does not operate Ethereum network validator nodes, nor does it physically custody the cryptocurrency assets submitted by clients.

The underlying custody relationship for staked assets is established directly between the customer and Zero Hash LLC. According to the Digital Asset Risk Disclosure Document provided by Interactive Brokers to customers, digital assets held in Zero Hash’s segregated accounts are not protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) up to a maximum of $500,000 for bankruptcy claims, as is the case with traditional stock and securities accounts. On-chain, customers fully bear the risk of slashing penalties that may be triggered by blockchain validation nodes going offline or violating protocol rules, as well as exposure to price volatility during the unbonding period when assets cannot be freely transferred or traded. CEO Milan Galik has positioned this service as the digital asset equivalent of the platform’s long-standing Stock Yield Enhancement Program, aiming to extend the existing logic of generating income from securities lending to digital assets.

State-level regulatory access and the cryptocurrency asset landscape

Due to variations in financial regulatory policies across U.S. states, this staking service was not initially rolled out nationwide. Residents in California, Maryland, New Jersey, and Wisconsin were explicitly excluded from the initial launch list, primarily because these jurisdictions have more stringent independent regulatory classifications regarding the interest-bearing and securities nature of crypto asset staking.

Before the launch of staking services, Interactive Brokers had already integrated spot trading for 20 cryptocurrency assets through its compliant partners Zero Hash and Paxos, reducing trading commissions to between 0.12% and 0.18%, while also enabling 24/7 deposit and withdrawal channels for major stablecoins such as USDC. According to its published corporate schedule, Interactive Brokers will announce its unaudited financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 after market close on October 15, 2026, Eastern Time.

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