Binance adding support for tezos staking at zero fee

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is adding support for tezos (XTZ) token staking, starting Dec. 4.

Announced Tuesday, Binance said it will not charge any fee for the staking service. Coinbase and Gate.io exchanges, on the other hand, charge 25% and 33%, respectively, for their XTZ staking services.

It means they take a cut before distributing staking rewards to users. Binance says it won’t, but it is not clear if the exchange’s service will remain free lifetime because it charges for staking other tokens.

The zero-fee staking service appears to be a user-acquisition strategy rather than making money on it. “Exchanges will eat the costs to attract new customers. Staking companies won't ever be able to compete with that,” said Larry Cermak, research director at The Block.

Binance will start distributing XTZ staking rewards on Jan. 20 and post that, before the 20th day of each following month. For instance, users that deposit XTZ between Dec. 20 and Jan. 19 will receive rewards by Feb. 20.

Coinbase initially offered XTZ staking service only to institutional clients, later it was extended to all U.S. customers and just recently it has been made available to all its global users.