Bitbank Launches Ethereum (ETH) Staking Service at 1.78% Yield

Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank began offering an Ethereum (ETH) staking service on August 25, giving holders of the altcoin a way to earn yield without shifting assets off the platform. The product currently supports ETH only. To activate it, a user must agree to Bitbank's staking terms and enable the receiving setting in the exchange account; no separate staking wallet or per-cycle application is required. Users who do not yet have an account must open one first, with account opening and annual fees waived. Bitbank puts the customer reference yield at 1.78% per annum, calculated after deducting its fee from the reference staking rate of 2.83%. The exchange cautions that both percentages are estimates rather than guarantees, since network-level staking rewards vary and future payout amounts cannot be assured. ETH held in the trading account can be sold or withdrawn at any time, even while the receiving setting is enabled, because the service has no lock-up period. Rewards are scheduled for distribution every Monday around 8:00 a.m. If a user no longer wants to participate, turning off the receiving setting stops future accrual. The exchange also notes that staking rewards are generally treated as miscellaneous income under Japanese tax rules, which may trigger a filing obligation depending on the recipient's other earnings. The result is a simple on-ramp for retail investors who want staking income without running validator software or transferring ETH to a third-party protocol.

In the official announcement on X, Bitbank confirmed that the service went live the same day and detailed the settlement mechanics behind each weekly payout. Rewards are calculated on holdings from the previous Monday through Sunday, provided the receiving setting is active at midnight on the Monday when eligibility is checked; the resulting reward is credited around 8:00 a.m. that Monday. In effect, ETH does not need to be locked up for a fixed term, and users can disable the setting or sell their ETH at any time. This is a recurring payout stream rather than a one-time airdrop; unlike a strategy that parks ETH in an automated market maker pool, the yield is generated through network consensus. Under Ethereum's proof-of-stake design, rewards accrue to validators that propose and attest to blocks; by staking on behalf of users, Bitbank receives those rewards and distributes a portion after its fee. Bitbank further disclosed that it selects, at its own discretion, the exact amount of a user's ETH to be staked and does not notify individual users before each staking event. The exchange also sets the timing of staking operations, which means users delegate both the operational work and the scheduling decisions to Bitbank. That makes the product fully managed and custodial: the exchange handles validator duties and distributes part of the rewards it receives. The reference staking yield of 2.83% is drawn from ETH.STORE data provided by beaconcha.in as of December 31, 2025, and the 1.78% customer rate is the post-fee figure. Bitbank first previewed the launch on July 24, and the official X post now confirms the offering is active.

Taken together, the rollout reflects staking's shift from an institutional or technical activity to a standard retail feature at Japanese exchanges. The most load-bearing element of the disclosure is the fee-adjusted 1.78% reference customer yield; the 2.83% base rate is explicitly variable, meaning actual returns can settle above or below the published figures. Because rewards are ultimately paid by the network rather than guaranteed by Bitbank, the company's caveat about fluctuating payouts is central to how the product should be evaluated. The absence of a lock-up period is the most user-friendly term: ETH remains spendable while earning, and weekly settlement gives holders a regular, tax-relevant income stream. The tradeoff for that convenience is that the exchange controls execution timing and fee terms, so users do not have the same decision rights as a self-managed validator. This is a passive yield mechanism tied to Ethereum's consensus activity, not a bet on the asset reaching a new all-time high.