Our architecture is designed with reliability, safety, and security in mind. In addition, we provide:

•  Enterprise-grade infrastructure with a focus on using our own bare metal servers without relying on third-party cloud providers
• A wide range of custom tools to streamline your Ethereum staking operations from API endpoints for funding, exits to your customer portal and more
• We are custodian agnostic
• Our team of experts provides 24/7 monitoring
• Personalized support throughout the entire staking process

Foundry focuses heavily on meeting our clients’ needs. We operate our own validators and are deeply knowledgeable of the process. If you are an institution interested in staking Ethereum, please contact us here or by reaching out directly to one of our business development representatives.

Yes. Each Ethereum validator requires 32 ETH.

Validators accrue two types of rewards:

• Consensus Layer Rewards (attestations, block proposals, and sync committees)
• Execution Layer Rewards (transaction priority tips, MEV tips)

When staking on the Ethereum network, there are two primary types of risks to consider: penalties and slashing. Penalties are applied to validators who fail to perform their core network responsibilities, resulting in a minor loss of their staked ETH. Slashing refers to the act of penalizing what the network deems to be potentially malicious behavior by a validator, which could lead to a larger loss of staked ETH.

Foundry employs a multitude of backend services to ensure slashing protections are in place and keys are handled properly.

There are two types of withdrawals, partial and full withdrawals. Partial withdrawals will be automatically handled on an ongoing basis. Clients’ accounts are regularly monitored for eligible payouts. All validators are periodically assessed, and any rewards or exited validators (funds) will be automatically swept to the withdrawal address provided. A full withdrawal occurs when a validator exits the validator set and is no longer participating in consensus duties. It can happen voluntarily or forcefully when, for example, the validator balance falls below 32 ETH. The validator must wait in the exit queue before leaving the active set.

Foundry is open to a multitude of software, and we are always specifically monitoring clients and how we can implement them into our future stack. Having said that, Prysm and Lighthouse are currently our main points of concentration on the consensus side, and Geth is our main point of focus on the execution side.

Foundry is approaching MEV with an open mind and remains committed to employing and researching the cutting-edge trends surrounding the validator rewards ecosystem. MEV has had far-reaching impacts across the space and we believe it will continue to evolve.

In terms of custody, ETH staking has two different aspects to be aware of: First, there is the withdrawal key, which holds full custody of the funds and is in the hands of our client. Next, there is the signing key, which is held by the staking provider, and is responsible for upholding validator duties on the network.

All rewards flow to the withdrawal address provided by our client in the validator funding process. There is no action needed from our clients to consistently receive validator rewards back to this address as it is an automated process implemented by the protocol.

To unstake your Ethereum is called a full withdrawal. A full withdrawal moves through a different process in the protocol which goes through two different holding periods. These holding periods are referred to as (1) the exit queue, and once the exit is processed, (2) the withdrawal holding period.

Here is brief overview of the process:

1. Initiate Exit Message
2. Exit Request Included in Block
3. Exit Queue – Waiting to be Fully Exited
4. Withdrawal Delay of 27 hours
5. Withdrawal Processing
6. Fully Exited. The full withdrawal process generally can take up to a few days depending on the exit queue and number of withdrawals being processed.

Foundry gives clients two ways to access their essential validator data: (1) directly through our API, which can offer a path for integration with our clients’ platforms to supply that data, or (2) by accessing this data through our customer portal with user-friendly dashboards.