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As top cryptocurrencies look to break above key levels amid fresh market optimism, ether.fi, the liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, saw its native token soar more than 21% to hit two-week highs.
The price of ether.fi ($ETHFI) outpaced most top altcoins, including Ethereum ($ETH) that surged over 5% amid adoption news as SharpLink Gaming announced plans to buy $425 million of Ethereum.
$ETHFI also outpaced Bitcoin ($BTC), with the decentralized staking protocol’s 21% spike to above $1.51 outshining Bitcoin’s modest 0.7% gain as $BTC hovered near $110,000. Notably, the $2.5 billion fundraising announcement from Trump Media to acquire Bitcoin had yet to trigger a significant price move.
$ETHFI price surges 21% amid strong bullish momentum - 1"> While ether.fi remains well below its all-time high of $8.57 reached in March 2024, the latest rally reflects strong bullish momentum. The token has rebounded sharply from its April 7, 2025 low of $0.40, marking a 263% gain in just over a month.
In addition to improved sentiment around Ethereum, driven by the SharpLink $ETH treasury strategy, $ETHFI has benefited from protocol-driven buyback initiatives. On May 24, 2025, the ether.fi Foundation announced that a total of 105 $ETH worth about $267k had been used to buy back 206k $ETHFI.
Since initiating the program, the non-custodial $ETH staking platform has used withdrawal fees to fund regular token buybacks. In addition to weekly repurchases, the project also conducts monthly buybacks and redistributes repurchased $ETHFI tokens to stakers.
The protocol’s revenue comes from staking and restaking rewards as well as fees on liquid vaults. In April, platform revenue hit $2.4 million, with ether.fi Foundation noting that a portion of this would be used to buy back the native token.
Per DeFiLlama, the platform’s annualized fees and annualized revenue stands at $179 million and $24 million respectively.
Ether.fi native token’s price has climbed amid these initiatives, with the total value locked on the protocol rebounding in recent weeks to hit $6.7 billion.