As a genesis validator for Pharos, we look forward to supporting the next generation of high-performance, institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure. We believe Pharos is well-positioned to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and the decentralised economy.

What is the Pharos Network?

The Pharos Network is an high-throughput, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain designed to bring Real-World Assets (RWAs) and enterprise-grade DeFi to “internet scale.” The Pharos ecosystem is built on three primary pillars:

• L1-Base: High-performance data availability layer with hardware acceleration.
• L1-Core: The decentralised engine powering high-throughput transactions and sub-second finality.
• L1-Extension: A flexible framework enabling Special Processing Networks (SPNs), which allow for seamless integration of new software, hardware, and geographic decentralisation.

By combining massive throughput with built-in compliance features like ZK-based KYC/AML, Pharos provides the necessary foundation for institutions to securely tokenise assets from renewable energy to supply chain finance,

stakeFi as a Validator

Joining Pharos as a genesis validator is a natural extension of our mission at stakeFi. This collaboration brings together our deep-rooted expertise in both Web3 infrastructure and enterprise-level technology.

• Proven Reliability: stakeFi brings over 6 years of validation experience to the Pharos Network. We are trusted by multiple Fortune 500 companies to maintain the security and uptime of their onchain operations.
• Enterprise Synergy: With backing and support from BCW, a Premier Partner of Google Cloud with specialisations in Infrastructure, Security, and Generative AI, stakeFi is uniquely equipped to support a network founded by former leaders from Ant Group and Alibaba.
• Bridging Two Worlds: Pharos focuses on the intersection of Web2 liquidity and Web3 efficiency. Our experience in helping traditional enterprises navigate the digital asset space aligns perfectly with Pharos’ goal of onboarding the next $50 trillion in real-world assets.

We are excited to help secure the Pharos Network from day one, ensuring a stable and scalable environment for the future of global finance.

About stakeFi

stakeFi is the institutional standard for digital asset yield. Born out of BCW Group, stakeFi provides institutions, corporates, wallets, and custodians with secure, SOC 2-compliant validator infrastructure. We simplify multi-protocol staking & yield through a single, enterprise-grade platform. Visit us at stakefi.network or follow our updates on X & LinkedIn.

stakeFi Joins Pharos Network as a Genesis Mainnet Validator was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the rapidly evolving digital asset landscape, security is the bedrock of institutional participation.

Today, we are proud to announce that stakeFi has successfully completed its System and Organization Controls SOC 2 Type 2 attestation. This milestone, verified by the independent auditors at Sensiba LLP, solidifies our commitment to providing the most secure and transparent non-custodial staking infrastructure in the industry.

What SOC 2 Type 2 Means for Our Partners

While a Type 1 report assesses controls at a specific point in time, the Type 2 attestation evaluates the operating effectiveness of those controls over an extended period.

With this attestation, our institutional partners, such as including global treasuries, custodians, and VCs, can have absolute confidence that our security protocols are not just documented, but consistently executed.

The Standard We Set

At stakeFi, we simplify institutional staking without compromising the rigorous security standards required by enterprise risk teams. This attestation covers the AICPA’s Trust Services Criteria, focusing on:

• Security: Protection against unauthorized access and disclosure.
• Availability: Ensuring 99.99% uptime for our validator operations.
• Confidentiality: Safeguarding sensitive client data through encrypted workflows.

We ensure that our partners and clients are staking their digital assets with the highest institutional-grade security available. Our proven technical reliability proves our dedication to the availability of validator node operations.

“As institutional adoption scales, the industry is moving past general tools toward precision-built infrastructure designed for rigorous execution and data standards,” says Brett Hornung, Chief Commercial Officer at stakeFi. “Our SOC 2 Type 2 attestation marks a major turning point for us, and is a testament to our unwavering focus on high-fidelity security and the operational excellence our partners expect.”

Looking Ahead

Compliance is a journey, not a destination. stakeFi remains committed to annual audits and continuous monitoring to ensure we remain the trusted infrastructure layer for the world’s leading financial institutions.

Existing and prospective clients may request access to the full report under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) by contacting their account manager or emailing support@stakefi.network.

stakeFi Achieves SOC 2 Type 2 Attestation: Reaffirming the Institutional Standard for Staking… was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

stakeFi is thrilled to announce that we are joining the Warden Protocol as a Genesis Mainnet Validator.

Our role as a genesis validator signifies our strong belief in Warden’s mission to create a secure, decentralised, and accessible framework for the emerging AI Agent economy.

What is the Warden Protocol?

The Warden Protocol is built to power the AI Agent economy. It’s a purpose-built, EVM-compatible blockchain that provides a full-stack framework for creating, distributing, monetising, and governing AI Agents.

The Warden protocol consists of the Warden Chain, which is the decentralised infrastructure that powers the operation aspects of the protocol, a verifiable AI layer to verify that AI computations and their results are correct, and a full stack toolkit which gives developers what they need to build, test, and publish “Intelligent Applications” that can operate securely across any chain.

stakeFi as a validator

This collaboration is a fantastic alignment of vision and expertise across Web3 and AI. On the validation/Web3 side, stakeFi has over 6 years of validation experience and is trusted by multiple Fortune 500 companies to run infrastructure and help them take advantage of the benefits of being onchain. On the AI side, BCW Group, which has incubated stakeFi, is a Premier Partner of Google Cloud, with specialisations in generative AI, security, and infrastructure. Through this work and others, we are consistently working on exciting innovations at the center of Web3 and AI, and Warden is a great example of this work.

About stakeFi

stakeFi is the institutional-grade infrastructure layer for the digital asset economy, dedicated to providing secure validator services and yield optimisation for the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions. As part of the BCW Technologies vertical of BCW Group focusing exclusively on institutional needs, stakeFi combines 6+ years of crypto infrastructure experience with SOC 2-compliant security, comprehensive reporting, and seamless execution. Our platform enables enterprises, custodians, exchanges, and asset managers to securely stake, earn, and monitor assets across multiple protocols with confidence. Learn more at stakefi.network and connect with us on X & LinkedIn.

stakeFi by BCW Joins Warden Protocol as Genesis Mainnet Validator was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

For BCW Ventures to be well-positioned in the Web3 space, we have made several investments in blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks.

We believe that a great diversity of block space is beneficial for app builders and users, and ultimately protects the industry against over-reliance on any one architecture. Our investments in this subsector demonstrate our commitment to broadening optionality for app developers and providing network innovators the resources they need to expand on the utility of the use cases in which we specialise.

The fundamental infrastructure for nearly everything in the Web3 space, such as payments, staking, metaverse, and gaming, is block space. Our investments in networks are designed to support each respective network team while simultaneously supporting an app, use case, investment, or related initiative that may affect our operations within any of our verticals at BCW Group.

In this way, BCW Ventures is the forward-thinking sector of BCW Group by helping pave the way for any direction we may take.

Network Types

Within the EVM ecosystem, we have invested in the Polygon network and the native $POL token. Polygon is one of the largest EVM-compatible sidechains by market cap to-date.

Within the Cosmos ecosystem, we have invested in Nillion $NIL, MANTRA Chain $OM, and XPLA $XPLA. With these investments, we have exposure to a privacy-focused network, real-world assets (RWAs), and Web3 gaming.

Among the L1s we have invested in that operate outside of a common ecosystem are Hedera $HBAR and SUPRA $SUPRA. They are focusing on corporate governance and onchain automation, respectively.

BCW Ventures Network Portfolio

Our investment portfolio among Layer 1 (L1) blockchains and DLTs includes a diverse spread of networks that all aim to encourage utility expansion in one or a handful of use cases.

Polygon

Polygon is a standalone L1 network that serves as a sidechain, or a scaling solution for the Ethereum ecosystem. This was one of our earliest investments at BCW Ventures.

BCW Technologies runs 2 of the 105 total validator nodes on Polygon which helps secure the network and provides yield to any $POL stakers who delegate tokens to it.

Learn more about our Polygon validator in our guide on staking $POL tokens.

BCW was instrumental in making the technical arrangements for a partnership in which Polygon was chosen as the first network global acquirer Worldpay used to begin settling $USDC stablecoin payments in 2023.

Hedera

Hedera $HBAR was one of our first investments. Hedera is a public DLT that uses Hashgraph consensus rather than traditional blockchain to achieve high speed (10,000+ TPS), low fixed fees, and instant finality.

We run several products that directly serve the Hedera ecosystem.

Hashport is the only native token bridge on Hedera. It enables fast and secure token transfers between Hedera and 11 other networks. Arkhia offers a wide range of APIs and technical services for developers on Hedera. We also operate HNS, the largest registry of tokenised domains on Hedera, and the only home for true .hbar names.

Nillion

Nillion $NIL is a Cosmos-based L1 that replaces traditional blockchain consensus with Nil Message Compute (NMC), which enables nodes to process highly sensitive data without ever viewing, decrypting, or storing the underlying contents.

BCW Technologies was selected to join the Genesis validator set when Nillion deployed its mainnet in Q1 2025.

Learn how to stake your $NIL tokens to our Nillion validator node.

MANTRA Chain

MANTRA Chain $OM is a security-first L1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, designed specifically for tokenising RWAs like real estate and securities.

BCW Technologies supported the launch of MANTRA’s Mainnet RPC Node going live on Google Cloud Marketplace in Q3 2025. We also run a MANTRA validator node which $OM holders can delegate tokens to for yield.

Learn how to stake your $OM tokens in our blog.

XPLA

XPLA $XPLA, formerly known as C2X, is a Cosmos-based L1 designed as a universal content hub for Web3 gaming, art, and dApps.

It ensures EVM compatibility and high scalability, enabling the seamless transition of major Web2 gaming IPs, such as Com2uS titles, into the decentralised ecosystem.

SUPRA

Supra is an L1 that unifies oracles, bridges, and smart contracts into a single high-performance network. Powered by Moonshot consensus, it achieves sub-second finality and massive throughput, eliminating the need for third-party middleware.

Stake your $SUPRA tokens on our validator node at 0x183c62d896398370d2484ac184f365edbab8f0d7512b1d97f7f6e49a9d209070.

BCW Ventures: Advancing Blockchain and DLT Networks was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A major factor in our efforts to architect and support the digital economy and power the Web3 world is what we do from BCW Ventures at BCW Group.

BCW Ventures is the forward-thinking sector of BCW Group that has access to a broad range of early-stage investment opportunities from newcomers and industry incumbents.

Our investment thesis is simple: digital infrastructure will power a Web3 and AI future. This belief permeates our decision-making process in how we choose which opportunities to pursue and how to support them.

The BCW Ventures team takes pride in participating in and advising dedicated teams who are focused on revolutionising the digital world. Our involvement goes beyond just investments as we provide support in other ways, such as advising the entrepreneurs who founded and lead the teams building innovations in the industry.

​​Why We Invest: The BCW Advantage

We understand that capital is just one part of the equation. Founders choose BCW Ventures because we bring more than just funding to the table. Our competitive edge lies in:

• Industry Reach: Deep connectivity across the global Web3 ecosystem.
• Market Knowledge: Unrivaled insights into enterprise and decentralized trends.
• Information Asymmetry: Access to critical data and strategic intelligence.
• Unique Deal Flow: Early access to high-potential opportunities before the wider market.
• Diverse Advisory Team: Guidance from experts across finance, technology, and strategy.
• Partner Network: Direct lines to global acquirers, tech giants, and blockchain foundations.

How Digital Infrastructure is Powering Web3

The core of what we do at BCW Ventures is support the development of technology that will power the future of AI, cloud, and the on-demand digital universe.

It is difficult to overlook the significant impact that Web3 technology is having on the financial world. We intend to see those impacts increase by fostering ideas from elite teams solving clear problems

The sectors our Ventures arm actively invests in include:

• Decentralised Finance (DeFi)
• L1/L2 Networks
• Payments Infrastructure
• Financial Security Infrastructure
• Staking Services
• Data Oracles
• Mining Infrastructure
• Gaming & Metaverse

Layer 1 and Layer 2 Networks

New Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) blockchain networks have been the talk of the industry since they provide the important blockspace for the dApps and products that need to live onchain. A diversity of blockspace also gives dApp developers a greater array of choices for where they want to build and deploy their solutions and products.

BCW Ventures helps foster more options for builders by supporting new L1s and L2s within and beyond the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem. Our investment criteria focus on disruptive solutions with scalable technology and a massive addressable market.

The latest investment from our ventures arm is in stakeFi, an institutional staking and validator node operations platform. We angel invested in it and are instrumental in bringing it to launch in Q2 2026.

Our portfolio highlights in this sector include:

Polygon

The Polygon network is a popular Ethereum sidechain. Stake your $POL tokens with BCW’s Polygon validator.

Hedera

Hedera is a decentralized public network that goes beyond traditional blockchain.

Nillion

Nillion is a “blind computer” network that focuses on privacy. Stake your $NIL tokens with BCW’s Nillion validator.

MANTRA

MANTRA Chain is an L1 Cosmos-based blockchain purpose-built for the tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWAs). Stake your $OM tokens with BCW’s Mantra validator.

SUPRA

Supra aims to unlock fully onchain automation as an L1 network with high-performance smart contract execution designed for DeFi applications.

XPLA

XPLA, formerly known as C2X, is an L1 using the Cosmos SDK to host major gaming IP titles such as Summoners War: Chronicles adapted for Web3.

Web3 Payments Infrastructure and DeFi Infrastructure

BCW Group is a pioneering partner with some of the largest global acquirers in the world, including Worldpay and Paysafe. Those acquirers, credit card issuers such as Visa, and other financial institutions like Stripe and Artemis have begun enabling payments with stablecoins at global merchants.

Visa alone processed an estimated $11T in stablecoin-based payments in 2025, a nearly twofold increase from 2024 totals, which shows the tremendous growth potential for this sector.

As a result, we have unique insights into the needs of major financial institutions, often with stablecoins and DeFi applications. This is why BCW Ventures is actively investing in Web3 payments infrastructure and DeFi that we believe will constitute the future of finance. Our investments in this sector include:

REAP

Reap is a global financial platform that bridges Traditional Finance (TradFi) and Web3.

Hex Trust

Hex Trust is a fully-licensed institutional digital asset custodian.

Clearpool

Clearpool is a decentralized capital markets ecosystem that connects institutional borrowers directly with decentralized finance (DeFi) lenders.

Velocity

Velocity is a financial infrastructure platform designed to unify traditional banking and digital assets into a single, secure ecosystem.

SecondSwap

SecondSwap is a decentralized secondary marketplace designed for trading locked or vested digital assets.

Synnax

Synnax is a decentralized credit intelligence platform that aims to revolutionize how creditworthiness is assessed in the digital asset space.

ETHGas

ETHGas is a novel infrastructure project aiming to solve Ethereum’s infamous gas wars by transforming raw blockspace into a structured, tradable asset class.

Horangi Cyber Security

Horangi was a leader in Web3 security and smart contract audits until it was acquired by Bitdefender.

Rousseau Group

Rousseau Group designs and builds systems that submerge high-powered computing equipment (like Bitcoin miners and HPC servers) into specialized, non-conductive fluids.

SOMA

Soma Finance is a fully compliant and regulated decentraized exchange (DEX) that aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi.

HNS

HNS is a decentralized naming system and identity layer built specifically for the Hedera network.

Openblocks

OpenBlocks is the foundational data and tooling layer for the Supra ecosystem.

Staking

The commercial and enterprise demand for staking services is rapidly growing, as we illustrated in our Institutional Staking Report. We support this growth not only through our venture investments but also through our own innovations like stakeFi — our whitelabel institutional staking and validation infrastructure.

stakeFi

stakeFi is an institutional-grade staking platform that utilizes the many validator nodes BCW Technologies currently operates. Securely stake, earn rewards, monitor performance, and generate reports from one platform.

Metaverse and Web3 Gaming

Web3-based gaming platforms, or GameFi platforms, have shown promise in generating revenue for sustainable businesses and stickiness among users by issuing healthy gamer revenues. The top games are hosting gamers using over a million unique active wallets per month, and the top-ten gaming and metaverse tokens combine for an impressive $1.7B market cap.

Additionally, we are very excited for what the future brings for firms and entrepreneurs developing solutions for Metaverse applications. Our investments in these areas include:

Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands is a leading Web3 game software developer that is driving the adoption of digital property rights.

Gamefi Ventures

Gamefi Ventures acts as an early-stage investor and strategic partner for projects at the intersection of GameFi and DeFi.

Conclusion

As the Web3 landscape evolves, BCW Ventures will continue supporting early-stage teams that demonstrate scalable technology and a clear vision.

We invest in tomorrow.

If you would like to share your opportunity with BCW Ventures, please reach out to us on our contacts page.

About BCW Technologies

BCW Technologies (BCWT), the technical solutions hub of BCW Group, delivers enterprise-grade Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, including blockchain network nodes, RPCs, validators, oracles, on-chain data pipelines, interoperability, zk provers and AI services.

Bringing over half a decade of experience, our validator and staking business enables enterprise and institutional customers to securely manage their end-to-end staking lifecycle at scale. With over 99.99% uptime, and leveraging best-in-class SOC 2 Type II certified operations, BCWT ensures enterprise-grade reliability in our customers’ staking operations.

Explore our innovative solutions at bcw.group/technologies. Follow us on X and LinkedIn.

BCW Ventures: Investing in the Digital Infrastructure of a Web3 Future was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Problem

The Solana Community Dataset is a public good freely accessible to all Google Cloud users, with costs determined solely by the volume of data scanned.

However, the original architecture — designed before BigQuery’s modern partitioning capabilities — inadvertently imposed a meaningful cost barrier. Without granular partitions, simple queries often triggered full-history scans, driving expenses into the thousands. This modernization resolves that structural inefficiency, aligning query costs with the actual scope of analysis.

Solution

The BCW engineering team resolved significant performance bottlenecks in the Solana Community Dataset through a comprehensive architectural overhaul. This effort focused on three key technical interventions to optimize data retrieval:

1. Re-partitioning: Logically dividing large data tables into smaller, manageable segments to reduce scan size.
2. Re-clustering: Physically organizing related data together on disk to minimize I/O and speed up access.
3. Mandatory WHERE Clause: Enforcing a required filter (e.g., a date range) on all queries for the largest tables. This critical step prevented resource-intensive full-table scans.

This three-pronged approach successfully enhanced query efficiency, making the dataset significantly more usable and efficient for all stakeholders.

Outcome

As a result, the minimal data range for queries was reduced from a month to just one day, yielding a significant improvement in query cost of more than 10 times. Furthermore, including one or several of the clustering parameters in the SQL query can further optimize the request and lower the cost for the end users.

Key advantages of the shift to smaller, more granular daily blocks include:

• Faster Query Execution: Less data scanned means reduced I/O and processing time.
• Substantially Lower Costs: Minimizing scanned data volume significantly lowers costs in usage-based cloud data warehousing.
• Enhanced Efficiency and Reliability: The more efficient retrieval process improves system stability, especially under heavy load.

A compelling example illustrating cost optimization is the comparison of the query before and after implementation:

Before, to query all data per a single block, the query processed a month of data. The query would have processed ~3.58TB of data, which would cost ~$90 (USD).

After, to query the same information within the updated dataset configuration will process over 10 times less data and will cost ~$7 (USD).

Further use cases for the updated Solana Community Dataset are detailed in this blog post.

Case Study: Technical Deep-dive

How We Solved It: Engineering at Petabyte Scale

To address the challenge of making Solana’s massive dataset — over 1 petabyte (1,000 TB) of historical data — cost-effective and performant for users, we needed to fundamentally restructure how the data was stored in BigQuery.

Our goal was to move from coarse-grained storage to a highly optimized schema featuring granular partitioning and targeted clustering. However, modifying a dataset of this magnitude is not as simple as running a standard SQL update. It required a specific engineering strategy to bypass the resource limits of standard BigQuery operations.

1. The Foundation: A Scalable Ingestion Framework

Before optimizing the storage, we leveraged our Open Source Rust-based ETL framework. By utilizing this high-performance architecture, we ensured that the massive influx of Solana data (transactions, instructions, and blocks) could be ingested with safety and reliability, laying the groundwork for the storage optimization.

2. The Challenge: Hitting the “Petabyte Wall”

Our objective was to re-partition the dataset and apply clustering to high-traffic columns to drastically reduce query costs.

The Failure Mode: We initially attempted a standard “Create Table As Select” (CTAS) query to back up and restructure the data. This approach immediately failed. We discovered that at 1PB scale, the sheer volume of data exceeded the memory and processing limits for a single BigQuery job. We could not simply “query” our way out of the problem.

3. The Solution: A Two-Step “Hardware-Level” Migration

To overcome these size constraints, we devised a two-step migration strategy utilizing specific Google Cloud tools designed for heavy data lifting.

The migration process diagram:

The implementation involved three key steps to successfully migrate and optimize the public dataset:

• Step 1: Backup via BigQuery Transfer Service Since standard queries failed to create a backup, we switched to the BigQuery Transfer Service. By specifically utilizing the “Copy Dataset” configuration, we were able to offload the heavy lifting to Google’s background transfer infrastructure. This allowed us to successfully create a complete, isolated backup of the public dataset without hitting query resource limits.
• Step 2: The existing tables were deleted as they were not required for the subsequent steps.
• Step 3: The “Clustering” Strategy (Iterative Restructuring) BigQuery does not allow modifying the partitioning specification of an existing table directly. We had to reload the data into new, optimized tables.
• Attempting to copy the backed-up data back into the new schema in one massive operation also hit resource limits. To solve this, we developed a custom migration script. This script programmatically iterated through the backup month-by-month, inserting data into the new partitioned and clustered tables in manageable chunks. This “divide and conquer” approach allowed us to process the full history flawlessly where a single query had failed.

Script to recreate the table with the new schema, including partitioning and clustering (Transactions example):

Script to copy over the data by each partition/month (Transactions example):

4. The Outcome: Optimized Performance & Cost Control

Internet Capital Markets demand data infrastructure that matches the chain’s velocity. By upgrading from monthly to daily partitions, we’ve aligned the dataset with market microstructure — enabling analysts to isolate queries with high precision.

• Targeted Clustering: Users filtering by specific high-cardinality attributes (such as transaction signatures or account keys) now scan only a fraction of the data.
• Granular Partitioning: Data is efficiently organized by time, allowing for precise historical queries.
• Resilience: The successful backfill proved that our “clustering” management strategy can handle future maintenance on petabyte-scale datasets without downtime.

Optimizing BigQuery Cost for the Solana Community Dataset: A Petabyte-Scale Project was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is Ethpar?

Ethpar is a fork of Ethereum focused on creating the ideal blockchain infrastructure for stablecoins in hopes of bringing the benefits of blockchain to the US retail payments market. Ethpar aims to improve the stablecoin experience for businesses and users in three main categories;

The first is node level isolation. This allows for parallel processing so that large transactions don’t cause congestion for following transactions, and rather each transaction has enough bandwidth to get through. This enables small daily payments for everyday items not to affect high-throughput events such as NFT mints.

Another is “wait free” transactions. The usual pending time on original Ethereum requires transactions waiting until the next block is created and confirmed before a transaction is approved. On Ethpar, transactions are confirmed immediately upon submission.

The final is the ability to pay fees in stablecoins. When on Ethereum and most layer 1 blockchains, you need the native token to transact on the network. Ethpar enables you to pay the gas fee in the same stablecoin you are sending, removing this complexity.

stakeFi by BCW x Ethpar

stakeFi by BCW is kicking off its partnership with Ethpar by becoming a validator, spinning up 100 nodes on the network to assist in Ethpar’s decentralisation efforts. Our validator expertise alongside our extensive experience in the payments industry aligns us well with Ethpar, and we look forward to expanding our partnership in the future.

About BCW Group

BCW Group is an enterprise solutions firm and venture studio dedicated to building the cloud, Web3, and AI infrastructure that connects and interacts with the on-demand digital universe.

With nearly a decade of experience, BCW Group is a SOC 2 Type II certified organization adhering to the highest standards of security and operational excellence. We deliver enterprise-grade Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, including blockchain network nodes, RPCs, validators, oracles, on-chain data pipelines, interoperability, zk provers, and AI services. Our validator and staking business enables enterprise customers to securely manage their end-to-end staking lifecycle at scale through our institutional-grade platform, stakeFi. With over 99.99% uptime we ensure enterprise-grade reliability, providing both dynamic dashboards and APIs for all execution and reporting functions.

We have launched other innovative products in areas such as DLT interoperability (hashport), API’s and infrastructure tools (Arkhia), DLT naming service (HNS), on-chain data analytics (OpenBlocks.ai — acquired, formerly Blockpour), & On-Chain Proof attestation (witnessd.ai)

Learn more about BCW Group at bcw.group or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

stakeFi by BCW joins Ethpar as a Mainnet Validator was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is the Avalanche Network?

Avalanche leverages a unique architecture aimed at achieving scalability, security, and decentralization. For consensus, avalanche uses Proof-of-Stake but incorporates “repeated sub-sampled voting”, offering one-second finality by querying a small subset of validators on their preference if a transaction should be approved.

Another feature of Avalanche is its Subnets (sub-networks). These are sovereign blockchains that design their own rules, fee structures, and validators but are still connected to the wider Avalanche ecosystem. This connectivity, alongside independence, allows for projects and institutions to build compliant, private, or high-performance chains tailored to their specific needs.

stakeFi by BCW as a Validator

As a validator of Avalanche, stakeFi by BCW is excited to secure the network, contribute to governance, and assist in powering subnets. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Avalanche team and exploring additional partnership opportunities within the vast Avalanche ecosystem.

About BCW Technologies

BCW Technologies (BCWT), the technical solutions hub of BCW Group, delivers enterprise-grade Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, including blockchain network nodes, RPCs, validators, oracles, on-chain data pipelines, interoperability, zk provers and AI services.

Bringing over half a decade of experience, our validator and staking business enables enterprise and institutional customers to securely manage their end-to-end staking lifecycle at scale. With over 99.99% uptime, and leveraging best-in-class SOC 2 Type II certified operations, BCWT ensures enterprise-grade reliability in our customers’ staking operations.

Explore our innovative solutions at bcw.group/technologies. Follow us on X and LinkedIn.

stakeFi by BCW Group Joins the Avalanche Network as a Mainnet Validator was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is Cardano?

Cardano is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain founded on the principles of sustainability, scalability, and interoperability. Cardano aims to provide a more balanced and sustainable ecosystem for cryptocurrencies and dApps.

Cardano operates a unique two layer architecture, consisting of the Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL) and the Cardano Computation Layer (CCL). The CSL is responsible for the secure transfer of $ADA between users, the native token of the Cardano blockchain. The CCL is designed to handle smart contracts and dApps. This design provides flexibility to enable both the transaction and application aspects necessary to grow and develop an ecosystem.

Another unique aspect of Cardano is its Ouroboros proof-of-stake protocol. Different from other PoS blockchains, Ouroboros selects participants (stake pools) to create new blocks based on the amount of $ADA they hold and are willing to stake as collateral.

As a Stake Pool Operator (SPO), BCW will be responsible for processing transactions, producing blocks, and securing the networks. Holders of the Cardano native token, $ADA, can delegate their stake to pools like ours, allowing them to participate in the security of the network and earn rewards.

We look forward to being a part of the Cardano community, and even have some exciting announcements coming with projects within the Cardano ecosystem in the near future, so be sure to stay tuned!

About BCW Group

BCW Group is an enterprise solutions firm and venture studio dedicated to building the cloud, Web3, and AI infrastructure that connects and interacts with the on-demand digital universe.

With nearly a decade of experience, BCW Group is a SOC 2 Type II certified organization adhering to the highest standards of security and operational excellence. We deliver enterprise-grade Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, including blockchain network nodes, RPCs, validators, oracles, on-chain data pipelines, interoperability, zk provers, and AI services. Our validator and staking business enables enterprise customers to securely manage their end-to-end staking lifecycle at scale through our institutional-grade platform, stakeFi. With over 99.99% uptime we ensure enterprise-grade reliability, providing both dynamic dashboards and APIs for all execution and reporting functions.

We have launched other innovative products in areas such as DLT interoperability (hashport), API’s and infrastructure tools (Arkhia), DLT naming service (HNS), on-chain data analytics (OpenBlocks.ai — acquired, formerly Blockpour), & On-Chain Proof attestation (witnessd.ai)

Learn more about BCW Group at bcw.group or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

BCW Joins Cardano as a Stake Pool Operator was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

TradFi as the Gateway, DeFi as the Engine

At its core, this new era is not about a complete takeover by new technology, but a powerful partnership. It recognizes that traditional financial companies (TradFi) will continue to serve as the trusted front door for customers — the regulated “gateway” — while decentralized finance (DeFi) provides the underlying technology to make everything faster and more efficient — the “engine.”

“The future of finance isn’t a replacement of one system with another, but a convergence of traditional and decentralized finance. This means that while TradFi firms will remain the trusted institutions for institutional custody and act as the gateway for digital products, DeFi will provide the engine for speed and efficiency.”

— Kyle. J Baron, Managing Partner at BCW Group

This statement encapsulates the hybrid model that will define the next decade of finance. It’s a recognition that the trust and regulatory adherence of traditional institutions are indispensable. Simultaneously, the underlying technology of DeFi offers an unparalleled engine for transforming legacy processes and unlocking liquidity.

This hybrid model is not just theoretical; it’s being built today. At BCW Group, we are at the forefront of this convergence by creating the tools institutions need to participate directly and securely in the DeFi ecosystem. A prime example is stakeFi, a leading staking infrastructure provider. stakeFi is a one-stop shop combining whitelabel validator nodes, dashboards, and APIs to empower institutions with the execution and reporting capabilities required to offer best-in-class staking services, all built on an institutional-grade backbone.

The Citi report substantiates this with compelling data, showing that the industry expects nearly

10% of total market turnover to be conducted using digital assets and tokenized securities by 2030. This isn’t just a demand from the market; it’s being actively built by the world’s leading financial infrastructures. The report highlights significant modernization efforts from institutions like ASX and Brazil’s B3, which is re-architecting its clearing platform for near 24/7 operations to support global cycles. Likewise, leaders from Euroclear emphasize a pragmatic, collaborative approach to drive scale in digital assets, moving beyond experimentation to create live, value-driven solutions.

Building the Bridge Between Two Worlds

This convergence requires building robust bridges between the established, permissioned systems of TradFi and the open, programmable networks of DeFi. The report notes the rise of hybrid models that offer the control institutions require while leveraging the core benefits of decentralized technology.

This is where pioneers from the Web3 space are providing critical infrastructure. As Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder of Chainlink, notes in the report, overcoming fragmentation through seamless interoperability is key to creating a single, unified global financial system. At the same time, as institutional capital flows into this space, the need for robust security and compliance becomes paramount. Esteban Castaño, CEO of TRM Labs, highlights this very point, emphasizing that the promise of DeFi can only be realized if the ecosystem has the right tools to manage risk and ensure regulatory adherence. These technologies provide the trust and security layer necessary for institutions to engage with digital assets confidently.

The Accelerating Role of Generative AI

This evolution isn’t happening in a vacuum. Other transformative technologies are acting as powerful catalysts, and the Citi report places a significant focus on Generative AI (GenAI). The statistics are staggering:

86% of financial firms are already running GenAI pilots.

One of the most immediate applications is in solving historically stubborn challenges. For instance, 83% of brokers are now using GenAI to streamline and automate client onboarding. From back-office reconciliations to enhancing risk monitoring, GenAI is set to become a core operating technology across the trade lifecycle.

Harnessing these parallel technological shifts — DeFi and GenAI — is the key to building the next generation of financial services. As a premier partner of Google Cloud with a specialization in GenAI, BCW Group is uniquely positioned at this intersection. We are actively helping financial institutions build the infrastructure and intelligence needed to thrive in this new, converged landscape, turning the promise of efficiency and innovation into a practical reality.

The path forward is clear. The future of finance is not a zero-sum game between the old and the new. It is a sophisticated integration that leverages the strengths of both, and we are excited to be at the forefront, building that future alongside our partners and clients.

The Great Convergence: Our Take on the Citi 2025 Report and the Future of Institutional DeFi was originally published in BCW Group on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.