Kraken deploys distributed validator tech across its Ethereum staking infrastructure using SSV Network

The Block

2025-08-22 17:34:09

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Kraken said it has fully deployed distributed validator technology (DVT) for its Ethereum staking service using SSV Network, becoming the first major crypto exchange to put the fault-tolerance setup into production at scale.

DVT lets a single Ethereum validator key be split into secure “shares” and run by several operators who must jointly sign duties. The design aims to improve resilience to outages and correlated failures.

Meanwhile, SSV Network operates as an open protocol purpose-built for DVT. It’s designed to enhance validator liveness and safety by adding geographic and client diversity. In that way, no single operator holds the whole key, and multiple independent nodes must participate to validate blocks.

In a Thursday statement, Jonathan Marcus, Kraken’s head of strategy, custody, and staking, said the rollout “has fundamentally improved the performance reliability of our ETH validators.”

A major positive touted by the deployment is focused on reducing correlated slashing risk. Validator slashing penalties can occur if nodes go offline or behave inconsistently. By distributing responsibilities across distinct operators, DVT can mitigate single points of failure and help exchanges and custodians meet uptime and risk-management requirements. Kraken’s move is expected to encourage secure staking participation and harden Ethereum’s network security, according to SSV Labs Founder Alon Muroch. His firm claims to secure over $18 billion in staked assets across more than 126,000 validators.

Kraken has been expanding its product set alongside its staking business. The exchange is rolling out “xStocks,” tokenized representations of equities for select non-U.S. markets, and plans to support issuance on additional chains such as Tron, part of a broader industry push toward tokenized traditional assets.

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