As Ethereum closes out a pivotal institutional 12 months, ether.fi CEO and co-founder Mike Silagadze is already waiting for 2026, and he believes the community’s subsequent part will likely be outlined much less by hypothesis and extra by monetary merchandise that really feel acquainted to on a regular basis customers, he advised CoinDesk in an interview.
Ether.fi is finest identified 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 will likely 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 quicker.
“A bunch of them have already started deploying into ether.fi,” he mentioned, calling these early adopters “very much on the bleeding edge.” DATs he added, “certainly had a positive impact on the price” of ether.
Ether was at its lowest level in 2025 at $1,472 in April, whereas in the course of the peak of the DAT pattern, ether shot as much as $4,832.
Wanting forward, Silagadze mentioned his pleasure for 2026 facilities on the continued maturation of Ethereum’s monetary ecosystem.
“The whole crypto neobank movement… seems to be like a rapidly growing trend, just lots of companies going into space and seeing growth there,” he said.
In Silagadze’s view, neobanks represent one of the clearest paths to sustained adoption, especially as stablecoins become more deeply embedded in global finance. These platforms, he argued, are better positioned than ETFs to expose users to onchain activity and yield.
Ultimately, Silagadze said he believes Ethereum’s success in 2026 will depend on its ability to deliver practical utility at scale.
“I really believe that the adoption is going to come from a lot of these neobank type players,” he said, arguing that more user activity will naturally follow. That means focusing on “more real-world use cases,” from tokenized stocks to accessible banking services, and moving beyond what he sees as an overemphasis on gambling-driven applications.
Read more: How Ether.fi’s Mike Silagadze Retained TVL as Restaking Misplaced Its Luster
