FalconX prime brokerage now accepts JitoSOL as collateral

Quick Take

FalconX, the largest crypto-focused prime brokerage, now accepts JitoSOL as collateral.
This represents the continuing maturity of the liquid staking sector.

FalconX, the largest crypto-focused prime brokerage, is now accepting Jito’s Staked Solana as collateral, according to an announcement on Wednesday. The move will enable FalconX’s institutional clients — which include a litany of hedge funds, venture capitalists and family offices — to more easily interact with Solana’s staking economy.

“Earning passive SOL yield on collateral unlocks a new frontier of trading strategies available to its institutional clients,” the Jito Foundation wrote. This includes using JitoSOL as collateral for over-the-counter spot and derivatives trades as well as onchain loans.

Liquid staking is a rapidly maturing part of the crypto industry. It refers to the process of creating a derivative token that represents a staked asset like SOL or ETH, which are otherwise locked up to secure a blockchain, accruing rewards.

Jito is the first and largest liquid staking pool on Solana with more than 15 million SOL tokens (worth about $2.5 billion) locked up earning an annual percentage yield of about 8.53%. The protocol delegates users’ SOL to a pool of Solana validators, aggregates their staking rewards proportionally to JitoSOL holders and bolsters returns with additional MEV revenue earned by its Jito Bundles and Jito Block Engine, which order transactions.

“For Solana to achieve global adoption, institutions need seamless ways to secure the network while retaining access to their trading collateral,” Brian Smith, head of the Jito Foundation, said in a statement.

FalconX is a leading digital assets prime brokerage firm that provides a range of trading services for firms ranging from BlackRock to Deribit. It accepts a number of collateral assets like BTC, ETH and SOL as well as more exotic instruments like tokenized real-world assets including BlackRock’s BUIDL.

Prime brokerage refers to essentially a one-stop shop for institutional financial services to streamline investment activities. FalconX offers “bespoke” strategies “beyond standard exchange offerings,” according to its website.

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