French Platform Meria Joins Tezos as Validator to Strengthen Network and Staking

French crypto trading and staking platform Meria announced today that it has joined the ranks of Tezos validators by operating a baker on the network, a move the company says will both strengthen Tezos’ security and broaden the platform’s staking capabilities. The decision sees Meria take on the technical role of validating and signing blocks, a core responsibility in Tezos’ Liquid Proof-of-Stake model, while folding that capability into the services it already offers to retail and institutional customers.

Meria, which is registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in France, positions the step as a natural extension of its existing product set: users can already buy and sell crypto on the platform, and Meria runs staking and lending programs that let customers earn yield on assets held with the firm. By operating its own baker, Meria says it will be able to refine the economics and transparency of its XTZ staking service and provide more direct support to the network it serves.

“Tezos is one of the pioneering Proof-of-Stake protocols in our industry,” Meria’s COO Thibaut Boutrou said in the company statement. “By operating a baker, Meria is proud to actively contribute to the functioning of a network with which we share a strong history and deep Francophone roots.” The announcement frames the baker program as a long-term commitment rather than a short-term product play.

Boosting Security and XTZ Staking Options

The timing comes as Tezos itself is seeing renewed momentum: recent protocol work and ecosystem upgrades have drawn attention from builders and institutional actors alike, and the network’s onboarding of new validators and partners has been highlighted in recent coverage. Institutional interest has been underscored by notable staking moves in January, including a multi-million-dollar XTZ acquisition by TenX Protocols that industry outlets say was intended to support validator operations and governance participation.

Industry voices welcomed Meria’s participation. Anthony Hayot, Head of DeFi Adoption at Nomadic Labs, said Meria’s decision to become a baker “further deepens the integration of their client-facing platform with the Tezos ecosystem. When trusted providers run nodes themselves, crypto becomes easier and safer for everyday users, reputable custodians doing the validating cut down friction and make mainstream adoption more likely.

For Meria, the technical move also bolsters its positioning in a competitive European market. The platform, founded in 2017 and based in Metz, says it manages over €300 million in assets and serves more than 150,000 customers across Europe, figures it highlights to underline the scale at which it intends to operate validators and run staking programs. Integrating baking into its infrastructure gives Meria a direct voice in Tezos governance and should allow it to offer more competitive, transparent terms to users who delegate XTZ through the platform.

From Tezos’ perspective, the addition of a regulated French VASP to the roster of bakers is a win for decentralization: more geographically and institutionally diverse validators generally improve network resilience. Tezos’ baker model requires nodes and associated tooling to coordinate block production and endorsements, and each new, reliable baker expands the pool of participants who secure the chain and take part in on-chain governance.

Meria’s announcement shows that established crypto platforms are doing more than just safekeeping assets; they’re starting to run the plumbing of these networks. For people who already stake through exchanges or custodians, that could mean small changes to how rewards are shared and, perhaps more importantly, clearer visibility into how validators actually operate. And for Tezos, it’s a sign that respected European players are willing to put resources behind a chain built around upgradeability, strong on-chain governance and an energy-efficient consensus.

The company’s statement and background information are available on Meria’s website, where the firm outlines its validator services alongside its retail and institutional offerings. Tezos’ official channels also welcomed Meria’s arrival as a validator, noting the contribution to the network’s decentralization.

As Tezos continues to roll out technical enhancements and attract new institutional participants, Meria’s move to run a baker will be one to watch: it ties a regulated, customer-facing European platform directly into the chain’s day-to-day operations and gives both users and the protocol a clearer line between service provision and network security.