Core Partners with Hex Trust to Offer Institutional Bitcoin Staking Across APAC and MENA

Core Foundation and Hex Trust have expanded their collaboration to bring institutional-grade Bitcoin staking to clients across the Asia-Pacific and MENA regions, the two organizations said in a joint push that marries Core’s Dual Staking technology with Hex Trust’s regulated custody infrastructure.

The move makes it easier for banks, family offices and other institutional investors to “timelock” Bitcoin, locking BTC to help secure the Core network, while continuing to hold custody and earn protocol rewards. Under the integration, Hex Trust will offer Core’s Dual Staking as a native service inside its custody accounts, allowing clients to earn rewards by staking BTC, CORE, or both without having to move assets to unregulated third-party platforms.

“This partnership with Hex Trust is a significant step in unlocking Bitcoin’s utility for institutional clients,” said Hong Sun, Institutional Contributor at Core. “Hex Trust has consistently been a forward-thinking leader in the digital asset space, and their rapid move to offer new solutions to their clients—who are keen to turn Bitcoin into a productive, secure asset—perfectly aligns with Core’s mission. Together, we are accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin yield strategies and creating a more robust and sustainable ecosystem for Bitcoin DeFi.”

Why Institutions Care

For many institutions, the appeal is simple: earn yield on otherwise idle Bitcoin while maintaining custody and regulatory compliance. Core’s Dual Staking model is deliberately self-custodial, Bitcoin is timelocked onchain to secure the Core network (which is EVM-compatible), and rewards flow from real blockchain activity rather than opaque offchain programs. Hex Trust’s integration packages that capability inside a familiar, fully licensed custodial account, shortening onboarding and compliance work for large clients.

Hex Trust’s platform will also include an integrated reward calculator to estimate annualized returns for different staking tiers and boosted rates, giving institutional allocators clearer inputs when sizing positions. According to Core materials, the broader Core ecosystem already supports institutional products such as lstBTC, a liquid, yield-bearing Bitcoin asset developed with partners including Maple Finance, BitGo, Copper and custodians, showing how timelocked BTC can be tapped into mainstream investment products.

Market Context and Scale

Core has been positioning itself as the largest Bitcoin-focused DeFi ecosystem and a bridge between Bitcoin’s security and EVM-style programmability. Recent Core reports and press activity point to more than $500 million in DeFi TVL, over 7,000 timelocked BTC securing the network, and support from roughly 75% of Bitcoin mining hash power, figures that underline why custodians and institutions are taking notice.

From a market-pricing perspective, Bitcoin has been trading strongly this year amid renewed institutional flows. As of mid-day trading on August 19, 2025, Bitcoin was hovering around $116,000. Meanwhile, CORE, the native token that participates in Core’s reward mechanics, has traded in low-dollar ranges; price feeds show CORE hovering at roughly $0.48. Those market levels mean institutions assessing a staking program will factor both BTC price exposure and CORE reward dynamics into their yield and risk models.

What this Could Unlock

For institutional clients in APAC and the Middle East, regions where Hex Trust already has strong regulatory footing and client relationships, the integration could unlock larger, compliance-friendly flows into what proponents call “BTCFi”: decentralized finance built directly on Bitcoin security. Product teams at asset managers can potentially use timelocked BTC as a regulated source of yield while preserving the asset-backing and custody relationships that institutions require.

“Hex Trust is proud to integrate Core’s Dual Staking, advancing BTCFi and unlocking greater utility for Bitcoin. Through our fully licensed infrastructure, we’re delivering secure, high-quality staking solutions for institutions and family offices across the APAC and MENA regions. Together with Core, we’re driving institutional adoption, innovation, and sustainable growth in the Bitcoin economy,” said Calvin Shen, Chief Commercial Officer, Hex Trust.

Analysts say the big test will be scale and controls: institutions will look for predictable reward mechanics, clear custody separation, and robust accounting and audit trails before allocating material BTC balances to staking programs. Hex Trust’s track record in regulated custody and its growing staking partner program are explicit answers to that demand; Core’s continued rollout of liquid staking products (like lstBTC) targets the next step, turning staked Bitcoin into tradable, yield-generating instruments that can be used across DeFi and structured products.

The expanded integration between Core Foundation and Hex Trust stitches together a nascent yield layer for Bitcoin with the compliance rails institutional investors require. If adoption by custodians and asset managers accelerates, the partnership could be another sign that institutional Bitcoin exposure is moving beyond passive holding toward more active, yield-oriented strategies, all while keeping custody and regulatory comfort front and center.