Crypto firms struggled last year. PitchBook data shows crypto VC investments are down 68% in 2023 compared to 2022. Fair enough, crypto businesses raised $9.5 billion. This is modest compared to 2022, when crypto firms raised $30 billion.
However, other startups are doing better. In December 2023, 1kx led a $17 million investment round for French crypto firm Kiln, which also included Crypto.com, IOSG, Wintermute Ventures, KXVC, and LBank. Existing investors increased their investments.
Kiln, which focuses on white-label infrastructure products, may be unfamiliar to crypto enthusiasts. Ledger, Crypto.com, and Coinbase use Kiln’s pooled staking system in their non-custodial wallets. 
Staking locks cryptographic assets in a blockchain to safeguard transactions. Staking assets has financial benefits since you gain rewards over time.
Polygon, Solana, and Avalanche are proof-of-stake blockchains. Ethereum, which adopted proof-of-stake in September 2022, is the largest.
Kiln’s smart contracts enable staking in this ecosystem. Kiln manages staking programmatically using on-chain contracts. Users may join Kiln’s staking pools and receive rewards with a single transaction. Kiln and its partners receive a commission automatically managed via the smart contract.
It’s functioning well—the firm handles 1,168,288 stakes in ETH. This equals roughly $3 billion in ETH assets under management at today’s exchange rate. Kiln has 5x raised its “stake under management” in a year.
The largest Ethereum validator node operator
Kiln includes SDKs and APIs for staking pool integrations in addition to these on-chain solutions. It has a big validator network. Kiln has more than 4% of the Ethereum validator node market, according to Rated statistics.
We run our own validator nodes to ensure maximum security and financial performance. It improves monitoring, too. Finally, this hands-on approach establishes us as a reputable firm with critical partners like the Ethereum Foundation, which shares our best practices and anti-slashing policy, said Kiln’s head of marketing, Marie Siegrist.
There are numerous ways to offer staking, or “pseudo-staking.” Staking rewards are offered by several controlled exchanges, like Coinbase and Binance. Centralized exchanges govern your digital holdings. Lido, a liquid staking mechanism, uses a distinct coin for staked ETH.
Kiln may be a viable white-label technology supplier for non-custodial wallet one-click staking. Some firms use Kiln to run specialized validators for low-level staking.
Today’s news shows our dedication to building our enterprise-grade staking platform, and we’re thrilled to be joined by top digital asset investors who can help us succeed. Kiln co-founder and CEO Laszlo Szabo remarked, “We have an exciting lineup of products and upcoming expansion plans, including an office in Singapore.”
Kiln has raised $35 million since its founding. The business receives a fee for staking rewards; thus, revenue grows with assets under control.
