Ether.fi CEO and co-founder Mike Silagadze has forecasted that Ethereum's growth in 2026 will be fueled by the rise of crypto-native neobanks, shifting the network's focus from speculation to practical financial products for everyday users. In an interview with CoinDesk, Silagadze reflected on 2025 as a pivotal institutional year for Ethereum, marked by significant onboarding through vehicles like digital asset treasuries (DATs).
Silagadze revealed that "a bunch of them have already started deploying into ether.fi," describing these institutional adopters as "very much on the bleeding edge." He noted that DATs "certainly had a positive impact on the price" of Ether, citing specific price movements: Ether hit its 2025 low of $1,472 in April before surging to $4,832 during the peak of the DAT trend.
The Ether.fi CEO expressed particular excitement about the "rapidly growing trend" of crypto neobanks, stating that "lots of companies [are] going into space and seeing growth there." He believes these platforms represent a clearer path to sustained adoption than ETFs, as they can better expose users to onchain activity and yield while integrating stablecoins more deeply into global finance.
Silagadze emphasized that Ethereum's 2026 success will depend on delivering "practical utility at scale," moving beyond gambling-driven applications toward "more real-world use cases" like tokenized stocks and accessible banking services. He will be discussing these themes at CoinDesk's Consensus Hong Kong conference in February 2026.
While Ether.fi is best known for its Ethereum restaking platform, the company has expanded its focus to building neobanking products that combine yield, self-custody, and onchain financial services. Silagadze concluded that "the adoption is going to come from a lot of these neobank type players," predicting that increased user activity will naturally follow as these platforms mature.
