Ethermine, the largest Ethereum mining pool, has announced the launch of a new ETH staking service that offers members a chance to collectively stake their ETH and earn 4.43% interest annually. The new staking service allows users to earn additional income on their ETH deposits.

Members will require as little as 0.1 ETH (which is just about $159) to participate in the new ETH staking service. The staking service will, however, not be available to US miners.

The new ETH staking service comes ahead of the much-anticipated Ethereum Merge, which is expected to happen on September 15.

Ethermine’s new ETH staking pool

At press time, 393 Ether (worth about $626,000) had been invested in the new ETH staking pool.

Such staking pools offer competitive interest rates and lower barriers of entry compared to solo staking pools that require node operators to stake at least 32 ETH.

The switch to offer staking services is a huge step for Ethermine, which is largely known for operating a multi-currency mining pool that allows members to mine Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Zcash, Ravecoin (RVN), Ergo (ERGO), and Beam (BEAM).

It is important to note that once the highly anticipated Ethereum merge upgrade takes place, Ethereum mining will no longer be required as previously required for the proof-of-work consensus mechanism that Ethereum currently use. After the merge, Ethereum will move to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism that is geared towards staking rather than mining.