A year ago, Restaing was one of the hottest areas of cryptography, and projects like Eigenlayer were told as the next big thing.
Fast forward to mid-2025, locked totals (TVL) have fallen across the sector, and the hype surrounding Point Farm has withered.
Through it, market leader Ether.fi remained stable, helping users generate yields through liquid staking tokens (LSTs) that could cross the decentralized finance (DEFI) ecosystem.
Currently, Ether.fi is about to expand with plans to become a neobank of crypto companies and users.
Domination of Ether.fi
Cayman Islands-based Ether.fi benefits from being one of the first movers in the liquid redevelopment space, launching a lucrative point farm where early users receive points that could eventually be transferred to token airdrops.
In the 10 weeks of the start of 2024, stained ETH grew from 45,000 ETH to 808,000 ETH. Currently, Ether.fi has 2.58 million ETHs, while its next competitor, Renzo, has around 380,000 ETHs.
In dollar terms, Ether.fi has about $5 billion worth of TVL. This number was hampered from a high of $9.4 billion from its December high, but in contrast to a massive outflow, it only slumped due to a drop in ETH prices.
Ether.fi is closely involved with users to keep them onboard.
“I probably know half of TVL,” Silagadze added. “Like, we know who they are, we talk to them and have ongoing conversations.”
In contrast, Renzo has withdrawn from the platform since July last year, with TVL sliding from 1 million ETH to 378,000 ETH.
From resuming protocols to Neobank
For Silvagadze, resale products are a way to load users and capital, but the company’s main ambition is to become a neobank comparable to something like Revolut.
“Stakes for us were really a way to build TVL and gain a user base,” Silagadze told Coindesk. “The ultimate goal is to create an integrated suite of products that allow users to completely turn off lamps from traditional banking institutions and operate on a cryptographic native platform.”
Ether.fi will deploy its “Cash” visa card on Scroll Network in September, and Silagadze believes it will become the company’s main revenue driver.
Neobank has become a very buzzword in Crypto lately. The lending platform Nexo was rebranded as Neobank last year, and there was also the stealth launch of Dakota, a crypto app that provides banking services to crypto depositors. EOS was launched in 2017 as a highly broken smart contract platform, shifting its focus to Web3 banking.
For Ether.fi, the plan is to incorporate three products into the mobile app that will soon be releasing.
This app consists of three integrated products. Ether.fi Stake is a staking protocol. Ether.fi Liquid is an automated Defi strategy manager that generates the highest yield available through the use of AI. Ether.fi Cash Wallet and credit cards.
Staking companies seeking to serve the US market are being put off by the lack of a clear regulatory framework.
But Ether.fi hopes that the crypto-friendly Trump administration will smooth out the way it serves US citizens after securing their respective licenses.
“We’re actually going to turn the US on, relatively quickly, for our staking and cash products. In fact, we have a legal opinion that it’s cool to do that,” Silvagatse said. Ether.fi is applying for a license to operate in the Cayman Islands, run by the European Union and its team.
Ethereum Emotional Issues
Ethereum was the beloved of the 2017 bull market and the subsequent ICO boom, and was the dominant smart contract chain as it animated the 2020-22 boom.
However, this cycle has been criticised for the Ethereum network in the drawn roadmap, as the market focuses on faster blockchains like Memecoin and Solana.
Ether is currently trading at around $1,965 and has lost 40% of its value over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, Solana is trading at $131 as she lost just 25% of its value in the same period.
“Some of that (negative sentiment) is clearly designed by competing ecosystems. The people in Solana are just talking to investors, allocators and the media every day, spreading bulls about the ether,” Silagatze said.
“If you actually analyze these arguments, they’re inconsistent. But those memes are floating and that’s what works.”
