Recently, the Ethereum re-staking protocol ether.fi has attracted widespread attention in the cryptocurrency market. Since its launch on major exchanges on March 18, ether.fi has quickly attracted the attention of a large number of investors. After the opening, the price once surged to $8.66, and then fell back to around $3, but in less than two weeks, the price rose again, showing a strong growth momentum. As of May 25, the total locked value (TVL) of the Ethereum liquidity re-staking protocol has exceeded US$12.8 billion, of which ether.fi Stake's TVL has increased by 24.41% in the past 7 days, further consolidating its leading position in the re-staking track.
According to recent data, the price of ether.fi experienced some fluctuations within 24 hours, ranging from $4.91 to $5.37, and finally closed at $5.13, up 2.7% from the previous day. This significant market performance reflects investors' confidence and attention to ether.fi.
In addition, on May 24, ether.fi announced the launch of a crypto credit card called Cash, which aims to help users use their DeFi assets directly for daily consumption without off-ramp operations. Cash is expected to be launched to consumers in September, but may not be available in some major markets including the United States due to regulatory reasons. Silagadze, the founder of ether.fi, said that although Cash is mainly aimed at crypto-native users in the early stage, its emergence may attract more people to participate in the crypto field.
These developments of ether.fi not only demonstrate its innovation in technology and the market, but also reflect its flexibility and foresight in responding to market needs. So, can ether.fi continue to maintain its leading position in the fierce competition? This article will explore in detail the recent developments of ether.fi and its future development prospects.
ether.fi is a non-custodial staking protocol built on Ethereum, founded by Mike Silagadze and launched in 2023. Unlike other liquid staking protocol, ether.fi allows participants to retain control of their keys when staking tokens and can exit the validator at any time to recover their ETH. This design greatly reduces the counterparty risk faced by stakers because they do not need to hand over their keys to a third party.
The core advantage of ether.fi is that stakers can generate and hold their own staked ETH keys instead of relying on node operators. This design ensures that stakers have full control over their assets, making the staking process more secure and transparent. To enhance the security and liquidity of staking, ether.fi mints an NFT in each validator launched through the protocol. These NFTs not only represent ownership of the staked assets, but also give holders certain control rights.
In terms of technical implementation, ether.fi uses decentralized validator technology (DVT), which allows multiple independent validators to jointly manage a verification node, thereby dispersing risks and increasing the network's ability to resist attacks. This approach improves the decentralized nature of the Ethereum network, making it more robust and reliable. In addition, ether.fi uses key management technology to separate the withdrawal key and verification key in the staking delegation, further optimizing the security of the ETH staking service.
The sum of all staking rewards in ether.fi is distributed among stakers, node operators, and protocols at 90%, 5%, and 5%, respectively. Users can deposit funds into ether.fi and receive a return on investment in the form of staking rewards(supply-side fees), as well as ether.fi loyalty points and re- staking rewards(including EigenLayer points).
ether.fi completed a $5.3 million financing on February 2, 2023, led by North Island Ventures, Chapter One and Node Capital, with participation from BitMex founder Arthur Hayes. In addition, ether.fi also completed a $23 million financing in February this year, supported by 95 investment institutions and individual investors including Amber Group, BanklessVC, OKX Ventures, etc.
Since its launch, ether.fi has performed well and attracted widespread attention. After the opening, the price once surged to $8.66. Although it subsequently fell back, its growth momentum remains strong. As of May 25, the total locked value (TVL) of Ethereum's liquidity re-staking protocol has exceeded $12.8 billion, of which ether.fi Stake's TVL has increased by 24.41% in the past 7 days. This significant market performance reflects investors' confidence and attention to ether.fi.
Through these innovations and developments, ether.fi has demonstrated its strong potential in technology and the market. It is worth our continued attention to see how it can continue to maintain its leading position in the future.
ether.fi Cash is the latest product launched by ether.fi, which aims to provide users with a comprehensive solution that combines a mobile wallet and a Visa credit card. This card not only allows users to borrow USDC with ether.fi assets, but also convert them into USDC for instant settlement. This flexible option allows users to choose the best payment method according to their needs when using ether.fi Cash.
The advantage of using ether.fi Cash is that users can choose to use their own staking and liquidity rewards to pay off their credit card bills. This means that users can not only spend globally, but also pay their bills with the income from staking, thus realizing a new financial management model.
Sign up for ether.fi Cash to get 1,000 ether.fi cash points and join the waiting list. This credit card is the third in the ether.fi product trilogy - ether.fi Stake, ether.fi Liquid and ether.fi Cash. Through these integrated products, ether.fi helps users save, invest and spend cryptocurrencies, achieving a more convenient and comprehensive financial service experience.
ether.fi's mission is to make DeFi easy for ordinary people to use. Through the product portfolio of ether.fi Stake, ether.fi Liquid and ether.fi Cash, ether.fi is gradually achieving this goal. These products not only simplify the use of DeFi for users, but also provide integrated services from staking to investment to consumption, allowing users to fully enjoy the convenience brought by cryptocurrencies.
In the current DeFi market, many products are complex and professional, making it difficult for ordinary users to understand and use them. ether.fi has lowered the threshold for using DeFi through a simple and easy-to-use interface and integrated products, allowing more people to participate and benefit from it. The launch of ether.fi Cash is precisely to meet the needs of users to use encrypted assets for daily consumption, eliminating the complexity and inconvenience of the traditional financial system.
As a real credit card, ether.fi Cash is different from traditional Visa debit cards. It not only supports daily consumption, but also allows you to pay bills through staking and liquidity rewards. Mike Silagadze, founder of ether.fi, said: "Our mission is to build a set of integrated applications that allow ordinary people to truly use DeFi. Cash is your spending account, and the dream is that you never need to withdraw from the blockchain."
The launch of ether.fi Cash not only marks another major step forward in product innovation for ether.fi, but also demonstrates its efforts to meet user needs and improve user experience. With the launch of ether.fi Cash, ether.fi is gradually realizing its vision of making it easy for ordinary people to master DeFi and providing users with more convenient and comprehensive cryptocurrency financial services.
In less than half a year, the total locked value (TVL) of ether.fi has grown rapidly from $100 million at the beginning of the year to more than $4 billion, a phenomenon that founder Mike Silagadze called "crazy". In a recent interview, Silagadze said that the development speed of the re-staking market has exceeded everyone's expectations, including his own. For a small team of only 12 people, such development is both exciting and brings great pressure. They plan to double the size of the team in the next six months.
Mike Silagadze has been deeply involved in the field of education technology for more than ten years. His move into the Web3 field is not a sudden change, but a gradual and natural transition process. From buying Bitcoin for the first time in 2011, to running a crypto investment fund after selling his first company in 2021, to founding ether.fi, he has accumulated rich entrepreneurial and investment experience. Silagadze pointed out that although the current Web3 field is full of impetuousness due to the influx of a large amount of funds, it is also "much more interesting."
The rapid growth of the re-pledge market, while exciting, comes with huge risks. Silagadze believes that most of the current risks are related to the large amount of speculation and financialization in re-pledged assets (such as liquidity re-pledged tokens). He pointed out that for those poorly designed liquidity re-pledge protocols, users will suffer serious losses when the tokens are decoupled or become non-circulating. In the future, if there are many re-pledged services that are poorly designed or unsafe, it may lead to a cascading effect of systemic risks. Therefore, users need to be very cautious when evaluating re-pledge projects and choose more robust protocols.
Looking ahead, Silagadze emphasized that ether.fi will continue to focus on the Ethereum ecosystem and launch more integrated products for ordinary users in the future. The goal of ether.fi is to simplify the use of DeFi so that ordinary people can easily master cryptocurrencies. Although ether.fi has achieved significant growth and achievements, the road ahead is still full of uncertainty. Silagadze and his team need to continue to pay attention to market risks and ensure the safety of user assets while maintaining innovation and rapid development. This uncertainty is also part of the crypto field, and ether.fi will continue to explore and move forward in this rapidly changing industry.
