As Ethereum closes out a pivotal institutional 12 months, ether.fi CEO and co-founder Mike Silagadze is already looking forward to 2026, and he believes the community’s subsequent section might be outlined much less by hypothesis and extra by monetary merchandise that really feel acquainted to on a regular basis customers, he instructed CoinDesk in an interview.
Ether.fi is finest recognized for its restaking platform on Ethereum, however has since expanded its focus towards constructing crypto-native neobanking merchandise that mix yield, self-custody and onchain monetary providers. Silagadze might be talking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong convention in February 2026
Silagadze described 2025 as a turning level for Ethereum, marked by a wave of institutional onboarding. Whereas staking stays restricted inside ETFs, Silagadze mentioned different institutional autos, like digital asset treasuries (DATs) have moved sooner.
“A bunch of them have already began deploying into ether.fi,” he mentioned, calling these early adopters “very a lot on the bleeding edge.” DATs he added, “actually had a optimistic influence on the value” of ether.
Ether was at its lowest level in 2025 at $1,472 in April, whereas through the top of the DAT pattern, ether shot as much as $4,832.
Trying forward, Silagadze mentioned his pleasure for 2026 facilities on the continued maturation of Ethereum’s monetary ecosystem.
“The entire crypto neobank motion… appears to be like a quickly rising pattern, simply numerous corporations going into area and seeing development there,” he mentioned.
In Silagadze’s view, neobanks characterize one of many clearest paths to sustained adoption, particularly as stablecoins grow to be extra deeply embedded in international finance. These platforms, he argued, are higher positioned than ETFs to reveal customers to onchain exercise and yield.
Finally, Silagadze mentioned he believes Ethereum’s success in 2026 will depend upon its means to ship sensible utility at scale.
“I actually consider that the adoption goes to return from numerous these neobank kind gamers,” he mentioned, arguing that extra consumer exercise will naturally comply with. Meaning specializing in “extra real-world use instances,” from tokenized shares to accessible banking providers, and transferring past what he sees as an overemphasis on gambling-driven functions.
Learn extra: How Ether.fi’s Mike Silagadze Retained TVL as Restaking Misplaced Its Luster
