Ethereum staking is emerging as a “native yield” opportunity for asset managers, rewarding validators for duties that secure network consensus. Yet the possibility of slashing, and the reputational impact of even a single event, continues to slow adoption for regulated funds and ETFs.
Aon’s Digital Assets specialists, with a track record of securing billions of dollars of insurance limits for digital asset risks, worked with insurers and industry to design scalable slashing insurance aligned to institutional governance standards.
NORS certification: a new foundation for underwriting
The Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS) is a third‑party‑verified framework designed specifically for Ethereum node operator risk management, giving institutions an objective benchmark when assessing node operators for staking services. Pier Two, a leading non‑custodial institutional staking provider, is the first organisation worldwide to achieve NORS certification, independently attesting to professional grade validator risk controls and industry standard Ethereum validator risk management practices.
“We were pleased to see Pier Two complete the NORS certification process,” said Glenn Morgan, SVP and Head of Digital Assets at Aon. “Institutional‑grade risk standards like NORS play an important role in bridging operational practices and insurance markets and Pier Two’s milestone highlights the growing adoption of these standards across the ecosystem.”
For asset managers, that certification has a direct insurance benefit. Pier Two’s NORS accreditation has enabled Aon to place a purposeful slashing insurance policy, making staking more attractive and easier for underwriters to approve and rate within existing risk frameworks.
Institutional scale, institutional standards
Existing market offerings are not always designed for claims certainty, capacity and regulatory expectations of large asset managers. Aon works with global carriers and alternative capital to structure non‑discretionary slashing insurance that can scale with ETF mandates while sitting alongside broader digital‑asset insurance programmes. The aim is to manage risk (including perceived risk), even where actual slashing frequency is low, through clear wording, robust claims processes and limits sized for institutional balance sheets.
Technical mitigation: defence in depth
Most slashing events stem from operator error, such as two machines running the same validator keys simultaneously. Industry practice already relies on specialist signers such as Consensys’ Web3Signer and Attestant’s Dirk and Vouch, which use slashing‑protection databases to block conflicting attestations or blocks before they are signed.
New functionality in the Nimbus Ethereum client – with similar approaches being evaluated by other client teams – adds an additional safeguard by automatically pausing duties performed on a validator(s) running on a single client after the first detected slashing event, reducing the risk of repeated or correlated slashing at the cost of only missed rewards. Combined with NORS‑aligned operating practices, this creates a technical and governance profile that is more readily underwritten at institutional scale.
An integrated path to adoption
For ETF issuers and asset managers, counterparty risk with custodians was the first hurdle. The next phase is verifiable best practice across process, security and performance. By combining NORS‑certified node operation, advanced technical safeguards and institutional‑grade slashing insurance, Aon and forward-looking insurers help investors participate in staking with a risk profile aligned to their existing fiduciary standards when managing client capital in digital assets.
“Risk is a primary consideration for everything we do at Pier Two. Starting with something as obvious as non-custodial staking access, through to addressing the risk of slashing, no matter how rare, and despite Pier Two never being slashed or hacked,” said Patrick McNab, Co-Founder & CEO at Pier Two. “To provide these assurances, we looked to Aon. With their depth of knowledge and experience in digital assets, it became clear through the work we did to become the first NORS certified staking provider, anywhere in the world, we could unlock something valuable for our clients. So that is exactly what we have done here.”
