Laser Digital launches institutional Polygon fund for liquid staking

Laser Digital launches institutional Polygon fund for liquid staking

Laser Digital, the cryptocurrency-focused subsidiary of Japanese asset management firm Nomura, has launched an institutional-focused liquid staking fund on Polygon in collaboration with TruFin. The fund, called Laser Digital Polygon Adoption Fund, offers institutional clients the opportunity to both gain exposure to Polygon's native gas token (MATIC) and benefit from native staking rewards.

The fund is aimed specifically at government asset funds, institutional funds and private asset managers. “Institutional investors are beginning to understand the benefits and need for decentralized security, and this fund shows that institutions are attracted to the broader ecosystem,” said Laser Digital.

According to the website “stakingrewards.com”, the estimated annual return for MATIC stakers is currently 5.94%. However, by using the TruStake Liquid Staking solution, fund investors can earn a return that is consistently above Lido's 5% average while having the freedom to sell their tokens at any time.

TruFin has already partnered with Balancer and Chainlink to maximize the liquidity of the TruMATIC token.

The fund uses the Polygon AggLayer, which aggregates zero-knowledge proofs from all connected blockchains to maximize liquidity and transaction speed while increasing the fund's operational efficiency. Following relevant registrations and regulatory approvals, the Fund will initially be available to investors in the UK.

“Laser Digital Asset Management aims to transform DeFi investment opportunities into investable TradFi solutions,” says Sebastien Guglietta, Head of Laser Digital Asset Management. “By leveraging TruFin technology and integrating it with Polygon AggLayer, we are making investments in Polygon-Matic digital assets accessible to institutional investors in the safest and most efficient way.”

Colin Butler, Global Head of Institutional Capital at Polygon, added that institutional investor participation in staking would strengthen the overall security of the Polygon network.

Polygon is one of the leading Layer 2 scaling networks for Ethereum, the largest smart contract blockchain by volume and market capitalization. Thanks to Ethereum's recent Denucun upgrade, the cost of "rollups" on Polygon - that is, bundles of transactions that are later settled on the Ethereum blockchain - is expected to drop dramatically following Ethereum's Feijoa update. This is also a small advantage for Polygon staking, as Ethereum L1's settlement costs have become slightly cheaper.

Although liquid staking is the most popular use case of DeFi, prominent developers like Vitalik Buterin have warned that this phenomenon is pushing networks like Ethereum towards centralization.