Author: David C, Bankless ; Translated by: Tao Zhu, Jinse Finance
Ethereum is seeing major buying as markets adjust to the last minute and optimism about the first ETH spot ETFs getting approved is resurgent!
With ETH up more than 25% over the past week, it’s clear that traders are looking to increase their exposure to the asset. Investors are also bidding up assets in the EVM ecosystem that they see as a testbed for potential ETF approval.
Today, we’re looking at some tokens and ecosystems that are already hot and ready to take off.
ETH Ecosystem Token
While many major ETH ecosystem tokens have underperformed ETH for months, the shift in winds could prompt investors to seek out unrecognized upside.
LDO
Lido’s governance token rose by about 25% on rumors of ETF approval , indicating that the protocol and its LST and stETH remain indispensable in the ecosystem despite declining market share. While EigenLayer ’s re-staking push has the potential to reshape the power dynamics of the staking landscape, competitors such as LDO and RocketPool’s RPL are still imitating.
ENS
Ethereum Name Service’s governance token, ENS, has rallied 50% amid broader market play and Vitalik’s endorsement, with Vitalik questioning why more people aren’t paying attention to what he calls Ethereum’s most successful non-financial application.
ARB
Amid the rise of new L2 competitors, Arbitrum continues to outperform with the largest TVL of all L2s. This dominance is not always reflected in its token, but ARB has risen after the ETF news. Arbitrum is home to leading DeFi protocols such as GMX and Pendle, and is also a major infrastructure for L3, firmly at the top of the L2 ecosystem.
ETHFI
Ether.fi's governance token ETHFI was sought after by the ETF news, rising by about 20% in the next 24 hours. As a non-custodial liquidity re-staking protocol, ether.fi allows users to stake assets while retaining control of their private keys and receive eETH in return. ether.fi provides credibility as an established player in the re-staking space, and its connection with Pendle and its points program further solidifies its demand.
Memes
Want to invest more? While Base and Solana are the main memecoin arenas this cycle, there are still some major players on the mainnet. Just look at some of the established ETH memecoins like PEPE, BITCOIN or MOG, which have risen by 30%, 40% and 50% respectively in the past few days.
ETH Native NFT
NFTs have been tricky this cycle, with most blue-chip franchises underperforming or collapsing entirely. Yuga’s assets have been falling for months, but even stalwart CryptoPunks saw its bottom price fall below 35 ETH this week for the first time since 2021.
Meanwhile, the most promising ETH NFT performers are PFPs that have not performed well in the 2021 cycle, including series such as Miladys, Remilios, Mocaverse, and shockingly, Pixelmon, which have seen double-digit increases in their ETH-denominated base prices despite ETH's gains this week. Overall, price action suggests that people are more interested in grassroots communities with broader prospects than projects that have raised venture funding or are deep in complex roadmaps.
Base
Yes, there is no native token yet, but betting on Base is still a good option. Despite stagnant TVL growth, Base still offers a compelling narrative as Ethereum's L2 hub. Since rumors broke about the SEC changing its ETF decision, activity and related assets have been booming. Leading ecosystem tokens such as DEGEN are up about 30% this week, and PRIME is also up about 20%. Memecoin has performed even better, with some net gains reaching triple digits.
Summarize
The potential approval of an Ethereum ETF has added to the market’s excitement, boosting existing ETH tokens, ETH-native NFTs, and Ethereum’s popular L2.
While nothing is certain until the SEC makes a final decision on the ETF application, savvy ETH investors know where Ethereum is headed in the long term and should prepare accordingly.
