Ethereum’s outlook has been bleak recently, but a new move by World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform tied to the Trump family, could spark a turnaround. This week, WLFI made a notable deposit of 10,000 ether (ETH) worth $33 million to the Lido Finance platform, the leading ether staking platform, to earn rewards. Lido currently holds $31 billion in assets staked on its platform.
This move follows WLFI’s earlier acquisition of over $110 million in various crypto assets, including ETH, wrapped bitcoin (wBTC), Tron’s TRX, AAVE, LINK, and Ethena’s ENA. Market participants are now hopeful that this action will help prompt the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve staking for spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs). SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, currently heading the agency’s crypto task force, expressed her willingness to consider staking for ETFs in an interview last month. With former SEC Chair Gary Gensler stepping down on January 20 and Donald Trump assuming office, the potential for regulatory change has increased.
If approved, staking could make ETH ETFs more attractive to investors by offering a consistent yield on their holdings while also reducing product fees. As of now, U.S. spot ETH ETFs hold a combined $12 billion in assets, according to SoSoValue data. The approval of staking could lead to an uptick in both ETH’s price and related ecosystem tokens, like Lido’s LDO.
Ethereum’s future has been in question recently due to declining prices, leadership disputes, and concerns over its development roadmap. ETH has fallen to a four-year low compared to bitcoin (BTC) and lost market share to competing blockchains like Solana. However, many traders are now optimistic about a potential surge in ETH’s price.
“I will never trade ETH again, but watch how quickly sentiment changes once staking ETH ETFs are approved,” said renowned crypto trader Pentoshi.
“ETH will experience a multi-week pump in 2025 when staking ETF news hits… When that happens, if you’re too long on ETH, that’s when you should switch to better-performing assets,” added Alex Krüger, a partner at Asgard Markets, in a post on X.
