Ether.fi's Mike Silagadze on Maintaining TVL Amidst Waning Restaking Enthusiasm

A year ago, restaking was a highly sought-after area in the crypto space, with projects like EigenLayer gaining significant attention. However, by mid-2025, the total value locked (TVL) had declined across the sector, and the hype surrounding point farms had dissipated. Despite this, Ether.fi, the market leader, has remained stable, enabling users to generate yield through liquid staking tokens (LSTs) that can be staked across the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The company is now looking to expand its offerings with plans to become a neobank for crypto companies and users. Ether.fi's success can be attributed to its early mover advantage in the liquid restaking space, which allowed it to establish a lucrative points farm. In a 10-week period at the start of 2024, staked ETH grew from 45,000 ETH to 808,000 ETH. Currently, Ether.fi has 2.58 million staked ETH, while its closest competitor, Renzo, has around 380,000 ETH. In terms of dollar value, Ether.fi has approximately $5 billion worth of TVL, which has decreased from December's high of $9.4 billion due to the declining price of ETH. The company engages closely with its users to maintain their loyalty. According to Silagadze, 'We know probably half the TVL, as in, we know who they are and we talk to them and have ongoing conversations.' In contrast, Renzo has seen more than 60% of its ETH withdrawn from the platform since last July, with TVL sliding from 1 million ETH to 378,000 ETH. Silagadze views the restaking product as a means to onboard users and capital, while the company's primary goal is to become a neobank rivaling the likes of Revolut. 'Staking for us was really just a way of building TVL and getting a user base,' Silagadze explained. 'The ultimate goal is to create an integrated product suite that allows users to fully transition from their traditional banking institutions and operate on a crypto-native platform.' Ether.fi launched a 'Cash' Visa card on the Scroll network in September, which Silagadze believes will become the company's main revenue driver. The term 'neobank' has gained significant attention in the crypto space, with lending platform Nexo rebranding as a neobank last year. Ether.fi plans to incorporate three products into a soon-to-be-released mobile app, comprising Ether.fi stake, Ether.fi liquid, and the Ether.fi cash wallet and credit card. The company hopes to offer its services to U.S. citizens after securing the necessary licenses, taking advantage of the crypto-friendly Trump administration. 'We are actually going to be turning on the U.S. for our staking product and the cash product relatively soon,' Silagadze said. Ether.fi is also applying for licenses to operate in the European Union and the Cayman Islands. Ethereum has faced criticism for its drawn-out roadmap, with the market focusing on memecoins and faster blockchains like Solana. Ether is currently trading at around $1,965, having lost 40% of its value over the past 12 months. Silagadze attributes some of the negative sentiment surrounding Ethereum to competing ecosystems. 'Some of that [negative sentiment] is clearly engineered by competing ecosystems. The Solana folks are out there every single day talking to investors and allocators and media and just spreading bulls**t about ether,' Silagadze said. 'If you actually dissect those arguments, they're incoherent. But those memes are floating around, and that has an effect.'