Ethereum’s staking ecosystem is currently witnessing a massive boom, driven largely by regulatory changes, protocol upgrades, and new investor confidence. Ethereum staking has rebounded spectacularly. Total value locked (TVL) has seen a huge 60.3% gain over the past month, with total TVL now sitting at $34.11 billion. Market leaders protocols, such as Lido and EigenLayer, are driving this growth. Changing regulatory environments are likely to soon allow the staking within Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs).

Regulatory Discussions and ETP Developments

As you know, Grayscale just had a successful meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Working Group. They identified a number of ways to adjust the regulatory framework regarding staking on Ethereum ETPs. This meeting is a further illustration of how the industry is leading the way by introducing staking rewards into ETPs, which could make their offerings more attractive to investors.

The U.S. Ethereum ETP market is still relatively small, with total U.S. Ethereum ETP market total assets under management of $8.1 billion. Grayscale believes it has lost up to $61 million in potential revenue. This loss was measured from its initial launch until February of 2025 as it is currently ineligible to earn staking rewards. This number highlights just how much money ETP producers have to gain by adding staking to their products.

Robert Mitchnick, global head of digital assets at BlackRock, has previously highlighted the significance of staking for Ethereum ETPs.

If the Ethereum spot ETF can add a pledge function, it would be a "leap forward turning point" for Ethereum. - Robert Mitchnick, head of BlackRock's digital assets

Mitchnick's statement reflects the industry's anticipation that allowing staking within ETPs would significantly boost their appeal and drive further adoption of Ethereum.

Leading Protocols Drive Growth

As of late 2023, Lido is still the most powerful player in the liquid staking space. According to DeFi Llama, its TVL has jumped to nearly $22.93 billion, a 57.5% rise over the last month. Part of Lido’s success is its great reputation and easy to use platform. The growing need for liquid staking solutions allows users to generate rewards while maintaining their assets in a liquid state. In April, Lido DAO initiated a series of governance votes, from Snapshot to Aragon main phase votes. These steps served to formalize significant protocol reforms and landmark decisions, demonstrating their resolve to constant improvement and community input.

EigenLayer has experienced phenomenal adoption. Its Total Value Locked (TVL) has doubled to $11.36 billion, a 52% increase in just the last month alone. EigenLayer’s novel and potentially market-moving approach to restaking is generating a lot of buzz. Users can freely restake their ETH collateral to secure multiple networks and applications. EigenLayer announced its participation in the Ethereum Pectra upgrade on May 7, aiming to support improvements to the Ethereum network.

Currently, the SSV Network surpassed a TVL of $8.9 billion, with nearly 3.467 million ETH staked. Indeed, this tremendous growth underscores the critical need for decentralized staking infrastructure.

Expanding Ecosystem and Institutional Interest

Our new re-staking track has really taken off! Its total value locked (TVL) has skyrocketed to almost $12.85 billion, representing a staggering 54.8% gain in just the last 30 days. This expansion is a testament to the growing need for creative solutions that enable users to make the most out of their staked ETH.

Ether.fi has recently opened a $40 million crypto venture capital fund. This step is indicative of how much institutional interest in the Ethereum ecosystem is increasing, and the potential it has to drive even further innovation. Of note, Symbiotic recently finished a $29 million Series A financing round. This success is a testament to widespread investor confidence in the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and Ethereum-based solutions.

Hong Kong regulators took a major step forward by allowing licensed virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) to provide staking services to their clients. This positive regulatory development may pave the way for additional institutions to engage in Ethereum staking. To this end, it’s bound to supercharge the entire ecosystem.