Anchorage Digital has introduced native TRX staking for institutional clients, adding to its portfolio of regulated staking services and widening its support for the Tron network. The update is designed to let clients earn protocol rewards while keeping TRX within Anchorage’s custody environment or using their existing Porto self-custody setup.
The move underscores a broader industry shift: custody providers and market infrastructure firms are increasingly bundling staking capabilities into institutional workflows, responding to demand for regulated ways to generate yield from blockchain networks without requiring investors to run their own validator operations.
Key takeaways
- Anchorage now supports native TRX staking for institutional clients on its custody platform, with an option to stake via Porto self-custody.
- Anchorage previously added institutional custody for TRX earlier in 2026, and this rollout builds directly on that foundation.
- Anchorage points to Tron’s scale in USDT settlement activity, citing Tron’s Q1 2026 transfer and usage metrics.
- The expansion reflects a wider market trend toward custody-integrated staking across major institutional infrastructure providers.
Anchorage adds TRX staking without changing custody workflows
Anchorage Digital’s new offering enables institutional clients to stake TRX while keeping assets in their established custody arrangement. According to the company, users can stake directly from Anchorage’s custody platform or from the company’s Porto self-custody wallet.
In practical terms, the feature is meant to reduce operational friction. Instead of moving assets to a separate staking environment—or requiring institutions to independently manage validator responsibilities—clients can participate in securing the Tron network and earning protocol rewards from within the custody setup they already use.
This expansion comes after Anchorage introduced institutional custody for TRX earlier in 2026, making the staking feature a direct follow-on to its initial Tron-focused custody support. The company frames the update as a response to increasing institutional interest in the Tron ecosystem.
Why Tron staking demand is growing
Anchorage ties the rollout to the Tron network’s role in stablecoin settlement, particularly for USDT. The company says Tron processed roughly $2 trillion in USDT transfers during the first quarter of 2026, while averaging 10.9 million daily transactions and 3.2 million active addresses.
Anchorage also cites data published by Tether showing that nearly $90 billion of USDT is currently circulating on the Tron network, referencing Tether’s transparency portal: https://tether.to/en/transparency/?tab=usdt.
For institutional investors, the relevance is straightforward: networks with high transaction throughput and heavy stablecoin usage tend to attract more liquidity and broader ecosystem participation. By offering TRX staking in a regulated custody-integrated format, Anchorage is positioning staking participation as another institutional-access layer around an already intensively used chain.
Staking is becoming a standard add-on to institutional custody
Anchorage’s decision aligns with a broader trend across crypto infrastructure. Institutional platforms have increasingly moved beyond “store-and-hold” custody, expanding staking capabilities as asset managers and financial institutions seek compliant, regulated routes to earn yield.
In October 2025, for example, Coinbase and Figment broadened their staking partnership to allow Coinbase Prime clients to stake proof-of-stake assets including Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), Sui (SUI) and Aptos (APT) directly from custody. The next step of that evolution continued as institutions looked for similar convenience across different ecosystems.
Then, in early 2026, Ripple integrated Figment and Securosys into its institutional custody stack, enabling banks and custodians to offer staking without operating their own validator infrastructure. The pattern is consistent: providers aim to package validator access, operational controls, and custody handling into a single workflow.
Asset managers have also pursued integrated custody and staking structures. BitGo, for instance, expanded its partnership with 21shares to provide regulated custody and staking for 21shares’ US exchange-traded funds and global exchange-traded products through regulated US and European entities, as reported by Cointelegraph: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitgo-expands-custody-and-staking-partnership-with-21shares-across-us-and-europe.
Corporate treasuries are joining this shift as well. Bitmine launched its MAVAN staking platform in March, initially building validator infrastructure for its own Ether treasury and later opening it to external institutions and custodians, according to Cointelegraph coverage: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitmine-launches-mavan-an-institutional-ethereum-staking-platform.
On Monday, Bitmine said it holds 5.77 million ETH (about 4.8% of Ether’s total supply) and has staked 4.92 million ETH through MAVAN, according to its statement reported by PR Newswire: https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/bitmine-immersion-technologies-bmnr-announces-eth-holdings-reach-5-77-million-tokens-and-total-crypto-and-total-cash-holdings-of-11-3-billion-302823533.html.
What’s next for institutions watching staking access
Anchorage’s TRX rollout adds another asset and another chain pathway for institutions that want regulated yield opportunities without re-engineering their custody operations. For market participants, the key question to watch is whether similar “native staking” expansions continue across major custody providers—especially as institutional demand for simplified staking access grows and stablecoin settlement activity remains a core driver of network relevance.
