ether.fi, the liquid restaking protocol, announces a $23M funding round, led by Bullish Capital and CoinFund.
ether.fi claims that it has established itself as a key player “in liquid restaking with over $1.6B in total value locked (TVL) – up 15x since the beginning of 2024 – and approximately 71,000 unique wallets holding its restaking token, eETH.”
The Series A investment round also “includes commitments from notable investors such as OKX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, Consensys, Amber, Selini, Draper Dragon and Bankless Ventures as well as the founders/executives of Aave, Polygon, Kraken, Curve, Ethena and DeFi Llama.”
Mike Silagadze, CEO and Co-Founder of ether.fi, said:
“ether.fi has seen remarkable growth and we are thrilled to welcome the backing of leading crypto investors to support our continued expansion. The funding round further cements ether.fi not only as the first and largest liquid restaking protocol, but the most trusted as the only protocol to allow redemptions and not just speculative one-way deposits.”
In the wake of the Bitcoin ETF launch, global market participants “are shifting their focus to the Ethereum ecosystem, where smart contracts power decentralized finance (DeFi) and its transition to proof of stake delivers staking and restaking rewards to those who participate. ether.fi is the next innovation and generation of this momentum.”
Restaking allows users to earn additional rewards “on their staked ETH; however, this has been a point of friction for retail investors as existing options for restaked ETH have been illiquid to date, requiring users to invest purely on speculation.”
ether.fi allows users to “stake native ETH, which is automatically restaked on the Eigenlayer protocol, in return for eETH, a liquid token that can still participate and earn additional rewards in other DeFi protocols on Ethereum and compatible L2s.”
ether.fi is the first liquid restaking protocol “to offer rewards on Eigenlayer through native restaking and remains the market leader, suggesting early product-market fit and killer app potential, driving future protocol revenue potential.”
As a result, ether.fi is a meaningful contributor “to the significant momentum and growth in the broader Eigenlayer ecosystem, which jumped to $7B in TVL in February 2024, up from $250M in December 2023.”
Alex Felix, Chief Investment Officer of CoinFund, said:
“ether.fi is the future of crypto asset management. As an on-chain DeFi solution, the protocol bridges the realm of what is technologically helpful to Ethereum’s protocol decentralization and an opportunity to maximize value for holders of ETH. With enhanced, next-gen earning potential comes complexity and slashing risks that will require a sophisticated risk management solution. CoinFund is thrilled to partner with Mike and his dedicated, ambitious team to deliver these transformative benefits.”
Alasdair Foster, President of Bullish Capital, said:
“Restaking has the potential to solve the cold start challenge new projects face by leveraging the existing strength of the Ethereum validator set and become a central part of digital asset infrastructure for the long term. ether.fi has pioneered how to do this in a capital efficient manner through liquid restaking, and we are excited to partner with them on further developing this innovative technology.”
As noted in the update, ether.fi is a liquid restaking protocol that “allows stakers to retain control of their keys while delegating validator operations to a node operator.”
Formed under a shared vision of what DeFi should be, ether.fi offers stakers “a decentralized, non-custodial staking solution that can serve as a building block for web3 infrastructure.”
