Anchorage Digital adds HYPE staking support through Figment partnership

Anchorage Digital just leveled up its Hyperliquid game — adding HYPE staking on HyperCORE to complement its existing HYPE custody on HyperEVM. This isn't just another feature drop; it's a full ecosystem play.

For the uninitiated: staking = locking crypto to secure a blockchain network and earning rewards in return. Anchorage is rolling this out through both its US federally chartered bank AND its Singapore entity (which holds a Major Payment Institution license, btw). Oh, and it's also coming to Porto — their self-custody wallet for the degens among us.

The secret sauce? They're partnering with Figment — the staking infrastructure OG — to run the validator backend. This partnership dropped in their Friday announcement, and it's a big deal for institutional DeFi access.

With custody AND staking now live across both HyperEVM and HyperCORE, Anchorage can support the full Hyperliquid ecosystem — including DeFi access through Porto and custody for additional HyperEVM tokens like Kinetiq. This is what full-stack institutional crypto looks like, folks.

Quick Hyperliquid 101: It's a layer 1 blockchain powering a decentralized exchange, split between HyperEVM (for Ethereum-style smart contracts) and HyperCORE (for native staking). Two chains, one ecosystem.

This move comes just two days after Anchorage announced a partnership with Mezo for Bitcoin-backed borrowing. They're clearly on an institutional DeFi tear right now.

For context: Anchorage Digital Bank (founded 2017, SF-based) is the ONLY federally chartered crypto bank in the US. They don't play around when it comes to regulated crypto services.

Anchorage's latest play is part of a massive trend — institutional players are finally embracing DeFi infrastructure and yield-generating staking. The floodgates are opening, and traditional finance is getting comfortable with on-chain services.

The evidence is everywhere: In October, Crypto.com let users lend wrapped crypto and earn stablecoin yield through Morpho's decentralized lending protocol. Morpho's planning stablecoin markets on Cronos blockchain with initial vaults launching this year.

Coinbase followed suit in September by baking Morpho support directly into their app. Users can now lend USDC and earn up to 10.8% yield without ever leaving Coinbase's walled garden — no external DeFi platforms or separate wallets needed.

November saw Threshold upgrade its tBTC bridge to let institutions mint tBTC on supported chains in a single Bitcoin transaction — no extra approvals or gas fees. Translation: easier for big Bitcoin whales to deploy assets into DeFi instead of letting them sit idle.

The numbers don't lie: Binance Research found DeFi lending protocols grew over 72% from January to September 3rd. The driver? Increased institutional use of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The institutions are here, and they're not leaving.