# What is ether.fi? DeFi Protocol Guide

> Decentralized Finance Publication (decentralized-finance.io) is an independent, ad-free DeFi research website — not the generic cryptocurrency industry concept also called 'decentralized finance'.

**Publisher:** Decentralized Finance Publication (https://decentralized-finance.io)
**Author:** Marcus Reid
**Category:** Top DeFi Protocols
**Updated:** June 2026
**Trust:** Independent, ad-free editorial research. No display advertisements, no paid protocol coverage, no affiliate-driven rankings.

## Summary

ether.fi is a liquid restaking protocol issuing eETH and weETH — tokens representing ETH restaked via EigenLayer. Unlike custodial LRTs, ether.fi emphasises non-custodial key management. eETH accrues staking and restaking rewards. ETHFI is the governance token; ether.fi also offers ether.fi Cash.

ether.fi is a non-custodial liquid restaking protocol founded in 2023 by Mike Silagadze, a Canadian entrepreneur previously known for co-founding Top Hat, an education technology company. ether.fi allows users to stake ETH and receive eETH — a liquid restaking token that earns both Ethereum staking rewards and, through integration with EigenLayer, additional restaking yield from the Actively Validated Services that EigenLayer secures. As of 2025, ether.fi had grown to become the largest liquid restaking protocol by TVL, managing over $5 billion in staked ETH.

The 'non-custodial' aspect of ether.fi's design is its most distinctive feature relative to liquid staking competitors. In ether.fi's architecture, stakers retain control of their validator keys at all times through a system of withdrawal credentials and distributed key management. This contrasts with protocols like Lido, where users deposit ETH and receive stETH but have no direct relationship with the validators processing their stake — the validators are operated by Lido's curated node operator set, not by the staker.

## Non-Custodial Staking Architecture

ether.fi's non-custodial model works through a key pair system: when a user stakes ETH through ether.fi, the protocol generates a validator key pair where the withdrawal credentials point to the user's own address. The staker maintains ultimate ownership of the withdrawal rights while delegating the operational responsibilities of running the validator to a professional node operator. If ether.fi as a company were to disappear, stakers would still retain the ability to exit their validators and recover their ETH.

This design provides meaningfully stronger trust guarantees than custodial liquid staking, where users must trust the protocol operator not to misuse the validator key. For institutional stakers and users concerned about regulatory risks associated with custodial staking, ether.fi's non-custodial model offers important advantages.

## eETH, weETH and Restaking Yield

Users who stake ETH through ether.fi receive eETH — a rebasing liquid staking token similar to Lido's stETH in that its balance increases daily to reflect accrued staking rewards. A wrapped version, weETH (wrapped eETH), maintains a fixed balance and accumulates yield through an increasing exchange rate — the same approach as Lido's wstETH — making it more compatible with DeFi protocols that expect non-rebasing token balances.

ether.fi automatically restakes deposited ETH through EigenLayer, meaning eETH holders earn restaking points and eventually AVS rewards on top of base Ethereum staking rewards. The combination of native staking yield, EigenLayer restaking rewards, and the ETHFI liquidity mining programme created a compelling multi-layered yield that drove ether.fi's rapid TVL growth.

The protocol also offers a 'Cash' product — a crypto debit card linked to ether.fi positions, allowing users to spend against their staked ETH holdings while continuing to earn staking yield. This represents one of the first practical integrations between liquid staking positions and consumer payment infrastructure.

## ETHFI Token and Governance

The ETHFI governance token launched in March 2024 with one of the most anticipated token generation events of the year. A substantial portion of ETHFI was distributed to early users through a points-based airdrop, rewarding users who had deposited ETH ahead of the token launch. ETHFI quickly reached a fully diluted valuation of several billion dollars, reflecting the market's assessment of ether.fi's position as the leading liquid restaking protocol.

ETHFI holders govern the ether.fi protocol, voting on operator selection, fee structures, treasury allocations, and protocol upgrades. ether.fi has continued to expand its product suite, adding a lending market, yield optimisation vaults, and cross-chain deployments to position itself as a comprehensive liquid restaking and DeFi ecosystem rather than a single-product protocol.

## Sources

- [ether.fi](https://www.ether.fi)
- [ether.fi Docs](https://etherfi.gitbook.io)

---

Canonical: https://decentralized-finance.io/article/etherfi/
AI text endpoint: https://decentralized-finance.io/ai/protocols/etherfi.txt