Deutsche Telekom subsidiary becomes a validator for Injective blockchain

A subsidiary of one of Europe’s largest telecommunications companies, Deutsche Telekom, has become a validator for layer-1 blockchain Injective. 

Deutsche Telekom MMS, a subsidiary that provides consulting and software development services, will validate transactions and participate in onchain governance, according to the Feb. 27 blog post from Injective. 

Eric Chen, CEO of Injective, said the blockchain is “thrilled to have one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies” coming on board as a validator. 

“This is yet another example of Web3 becoming more and more institutional and fully integrated into a society that understands that a decentralized blockchain offers reliability and security, the importance of which cannot be overstated when dealing with financial matters,” Chen said. 

Oliver Nyderle, head of Web3 infrastructure at Deutsche Telekom MMS, said the telecom firm wants to “foster true decentralization” and use its infrastructure to enhance the security of the network.

As part of its new validator duties, Deutsche Telekom MMS will be staking the Injective blockchain native token INJ to propose blocks, secure crosschain interoperability, validate transactions and vote on governance proposals. 

Deutsche Telekom MMS is Injective’s 60th validator, data on block explorer Mintscan shows, joining a pool that includes crypto exchange Kraken and Binance staking. 

Injective styles itself as an interoperable layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for finance that operates on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. 

Deutsche Telekom operates broadband and mobile networks in more than 50 countries through its subsidiaries, such as T-Mobile; it has a market cap of around $178 billion and, according to its company profile page, has 252 million mobile customers worldwide. 

Deutsche Telekom MMS was founded in 1995 as a wholly owned subsidiary of parent company Deutsche Telekom to develop software for TV; it has since expanded to include a broader range of IT and technology services. 

Related: Deutsche Telekom joins Subsquid decentralized network

Through Deutsche Telekom MMS, the telecom giant has been steadily increasing its presence in the crypto space, becoming a validator for Polygon in June 2023 and a validator for Celo validator in June 2021. 

The subsidiary has also been operating a Bitcoin node since 2023 and moved into Bitcoin (BTC) mining in November, using surplus energy from renewable sources that would otherwise remain unused.

Other mainstream companies have also been becoming validators, with Google Cloud becoming the central validator of the Cronos blockchain in November, joining a pool of 32 others on the Cronos Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) protocol.

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