Ether.fi – a well-known identify within the restaking house – is present process a strategic shift because it formally transitions right into a crypto-native neobank.
From a dominant restaking platform to an bold chief in decentralized banking, Ether.fi is redrawing the boundaries of contemporary DeFi.
The Transformation of Ether.fi
Within the restaking sector, Ether.fi is without doubt one of the high gamers, holding a 31.4% market share. The main place belongs to EigenPie with 46.4%.
Market share of Ether.fi. Supply: Dune
Ether.fi has recorded practically 2.6 million ETH deposited on the platform. The present Complete Worth Locked (TVL) is roughly $8.34 billion. Shifting past its function as a passive yield platform, the mission is step by step implementing a digital banking mannequin. This mannequin goals to turn into a completely built-in decentralized monetary ecosystem, from staking and collateralized lending to on a regular basis spending.
Chosen metrics of Ether.fi. Supply: Dune
Ether.fi’s new transformation technique, along with diversifying its product providing in a extremely aggressive house, can also stem from a decline in efficiency. Whereas the mission nonetheless holds a big market share, this determine has notably decreased from its earlier peak.
In response to Dune information, the mission as soon as held a monopoly with over 55% market share in March 2025. Nevertheless, this determine has dropped to the present degree in lower than three months.
Ether.fi’s pivot has not been with out challenges. Its first product—a non-custodial bank card launched in late April—has proven modest efficiency in comparison with the huge scale of the normal monetary market.
Furthermore, Ether.fi faces fierce competitors from giants like Coinbase, Revolut, and Robinhood. These corporations already boast hundreds of thousands of retail customers and well-established monetary ecosystems.
A possible challenge lies within the sustainability of the three% cashback program. At the moment, these rewards are backed by the SCR token of Scroll, which accounts for 50% of the TVL on the Scroll community. Nevertheless, if transaction volumes enhance quickly, the price of sustaining the cashback program may turn into unsustainable. This would possibly drive Ether.fi to regulate the cashback charge or discover different income streams.
“Regardless of these challenges, Ether.fi’s product suite is structurally compelling, with every providing designed to drive demand for the others by way of tight vertical integration. Mixed with a number of tailwinds (TradFi corporations including ETH to steadiness sheets, rising stablecoin adoption, document ETH ETF inflows), the setup appears to be like promising for accelerated development over the approaching months.” An X consumer commented.
Total, Ether.fi’s transformation is a transparent signal that DeFi protocols are more and more converging with conventional banking fashions – however in a extra decentralized and clear method. As capital from conventional establishments begins to movement into the Ethereum market by way of autos akin to spot ETH ETFs, Ether.fi could also be well-positioned to trip these favorable winds to scale up its affect.
Nonetheless, sustaining development momentum, sustaining consumer belief, and balancing short-term beneficial properties with long-term imaginative and prescient stay key challenges for the group behind the mission.
