The transactions came after World Liberty Finance acquired more than $110 million worth of crypto assets including $ETH, wrapped bitcoin (wBTC), Tron's TRX, AAVE, LINK and Ethena's ENA, as CoinDesk reported.
The maneuver raises hopes that regulators will soon allow staking for spot $ETH exchange-traded funds. SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, who now leads the agency's crypto task force, said last month in an interview with Coinage that she was open to considering staking for ETFs. Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, known for his anti-crypto stance in the industry, stepped down on January 20 with Trump entering office.
Staking would boost appeal for the investment products, letting investors earn a steady stream of yield on their holdings and reducing product fees. U.S. spot $ETH ETFs combined hold $12 billion of assets, according to SoSoValue data.
The potential regulatory approval also could jolt $ETH’s price and adjacent ecosystem tokens like Lido's $LDO. Ethereum’s future has been under the microscope recently, amid sagging prices relative to competitors, leadership disputes and worries over the project’s development roadmap. $ETH recently dropped to a 4-year low price against bitcoin (BTC) and ceded market share in trading activity to rapidly growing blockchains like Solana.
"I will never trade $ETH again after, but watch how quickly the sentiment changes when the staked $ETH ETFs come through in the next few weeks," well-followed crypto trader Pentoshi said.
"$ETH will have a multi-week giga pump at some point in 2025, around staking ETF news... If [you’re] too long $ETH, that's when you dump and switch to better performing assets," said Alex Krüger, partner at Asgard Markets, in an X post.
coindesk.com
