The Gemini crypto exchange will offer support for clients throughout the U.S., Singapore and Hong Kong to earn and store staking rewards in their Gemini accounts.

Beginning Thursday, the firm will support staking MATIC on the Polygon network and will roll out support for ETH, AUDIO, SOL and DOT over the next few months.

Geminirs announcement comes as other crypto firms expand their staking offerings ahead of the Ethereum blockchainrs much-anticipated Merge, which will shift the protocol from proof-or-work to a faster, more energy-efficient proof-of-stake model. After years of delay, The Merge is now scheduled to occur on Sept. 15.

Gemini Vice President of Product Layla Amjadi said investor interest driven by the Merge was integral in the firmrs decision to introduce its staking services.

lIt's now more clear than ever that people are interested in staking, especially now that we're on the cusp of the Ethereum Merge,r Amjadi told CoinDesk. lWith Ethereum being a staking option for them on Gemini soon and after the Merge, and with there being more liquidity and higher yields, staking is becoming more and more appealing for people.r

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Geminirs support services will allow users to stake and unstake any amount of crypto without any fees, Amjadi said. The firm will cover infrastructure costs and gas fees associated with staking and unstaking, and will offer slashing protection and other reimbursement opportunities for penalties incurred during the staking process.

Support for the service will be available in the U.S., except for New York, where local laws prohibit staking, as well as in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Geminirs expansion is part of a wider push by large crypto exchanges to create opportunities for retail and institutional investors to collect staking rewards. Coinbase (COIN), Binance, Kraken and Crypto.com have all launched staking services of some kind, with Coinbase Prime announcing this month that it would add Ethereum to its growing list of staking options for U.S. domestic institutional clients ahead of the Merge.

UPDATE (August 18, 16:41 UTC):nUpdated headline and story to reflect that Gemini's staking service is now available in Hong Kong and Singapore as well.