What Ether.fi does
Ether.fi is a liquid restaking protocol: users deposit ETH and receive weETH, a liquid token representing staked and restaked ETH that can keep earning yield while remaining usable as collateral across DeFi. The core idea, shared with liquid staking generally but extended through EigenLayer-style restaking, is letting the same capital secure Ethereum consensus, earn staking rewards, and simultaneously secure additional protocols or generate additional yield, all without locking that ETH away from the rest of DeFi. ETHFI is the protocol's governance token, used for voting on parameters and incentive distribution.
Where it fits in
Ether.fi has held its position as the largest liquid restaking protocol by total value locked through 2026, with TVL around $5.6 billion, even as competition from other restaking and liquid staking platforms intensified. The protocol has moved aggressively beyond pure restaking: an April 2026 deal committed 40% of its staked ETH to ETHGas, a three-year partnership building forward markets for Ethereum blockspace, an unusual bet that treating future block space as a tradable asset class can generate additional yield for depositors. Ether.fi has also pushed into real-world assets, committing $100 million from its liquidity base to a yield-bearing RWA vault built with Midas and Plume Network, and into consumer finance through its Cash card product, which shifted its core infrastructure to Optimism's network in April 2026 alongside plans for Gold Vaults, a Euro card and native stablecoin support.
Risks worth knowing
Liquid restaking concentrates several layered risks: slashing risk at the base Ethereum staking layer, additional slashing or protocol risk from whatever EigenLayer-secured services restaked ETH is committed to, and smart contract risk in weETH itself and the vaults built around it. Ether.fi's cross-chain bridge for weETH has already needed a security hardening pass, prompted by a $292 million exploit at a related protocol, underscoring that bridge security remains a live attack surface across the restaking sector generally. The ETHGas blockspace forward-market bet and RWA vault expansion diversify revenue but also diversify risk into two entirely new areas, forward derivatives markets and real-world credit, that carry their own failure modes distinct from core restaking. And as the liquid restaking leader, Ether.fi faces both rising competitive pressure from rivals and a genuinely uncertain regulatory environment around restaking and yield products more broadly.