What Is ether.fi? Liquid Staking, Liquid Vaults and the Cash Card

ether.fi's documentation does not list a leadership roster or legal operator for the staking protocol. A March 2024 analysis named Mike Silagadze as co-founder and CEO and placed the company and most of its team in the Cayman Islands. The same analysis reported a $5.3 million seed round in February 2023 and a $27 million Series A in February 2024 ¹⁴.

Governance runs through ETHFI. Holders vote on grants, protocol fees, node operator approvals, staking incentives and treasury decisions. The ether.fi Foundation carries out those decisions ¹². ETHFI started trading on Binance on March 18, 2024, after a Binance Launchpool campaign ¹³. One billion ETHFI were issued ¹⁴.

The card is a different setup. The cardholder agreements name Ether.Fi Cash Inc. and Ether.Fi Cash Ltd. as the program providers and Third National as the issuing bank ⁸⁹¹⁰.

Staking is the original product. It works as a liquid staking pool:

1. Deposit ETH through a supported ether.fi interface. You receive eETH or weETH, depending on the interface ².
2. Validators earn rewards. The protocol assigns pooled ETH to Ethereum validators run by node operators. Rewards come from the consensus and execution layers. They change over time and are not guaranteed ³.
3. Hold or use the token. eETH is a rebasing token: your balance grows as rewards accrue. weETH is a wrapper whose balance stays fixed while its value in eETH rises. weETH is the version most DeFi apps accept ².
4. Redeem eETH or weETH for ETH through the ether.fi interface, or sell the token on the market (see "Getting ETH back") ³.

Restaking has been removed from eETH and weETH. ether.fi became known as a "liquid restaking" protocol on EigenLayer. Its docs now say eETH and weETH no longer bundle restaking rewards or EigenLayer slashing exposure. As of August 2026, under 1% of protocol assets were still restaked. The docs plan to finish the removal by the end of Q3 2026 and to remove EigenPod withdrawal credentials by Q4 2026 ⁴. If you want restaking exposure, there is a separate, optional product: weETHs, a managed strategy built on weETH and Symbiotic, with its own risks and liquidity terms ².

ether.fi also offers eBTC (liquid restaked bitcoin) and beHYPE (liquid staking for HYPE on Hyperliquid) ².

Rewards and costs

The docs pages checked do not publish a protocol fee percentage on staking rewards ²³. Check the current net rate in the app instead of relying on a quoted APY. Other costs:

• Ethereum gas for staking, wrapping and redeeming.
• Any market discount if you sell eETH or weETH instead of redeeming.
• Separate fees on Liquid vaults and weETHs, set per strategy.

Getting ETH back

Redemption has no fixed timeline. According to the docs, it depends on available protocol liquidity, Ethereum's validator withdrawal process, withdrawal demand and network conditions ³. Selling weETH on a DEX is faster, but you get the market price, which can drop below the ETH value when markets are stressed.

• Liquid (Earn): vaults that put ETH, BTC, stablecoins and real-world assets into managed DeFi strategies. Their architectures are documented separately (Veda and Midas vaults) ¹. Vault returns depend on the strategies, so they carry more smart-contract, market and counterparty layers than plain staking.
• Borrow: you borrow against crypto held in your account. Each asset has two limits: a Product LTV, which caps new borrowing, and a higher collateral factor, which sets the liquidation point. Your health factor equals collateral value × collateral factor ÷ debt. Below 1.00, liquidators can repay part of the debt and take a bonus out of your collateral ¹¹. Current per-asset parameters are published on the Lending Market Parameters page and shown in the app.
• Markets: buy and sell crypto, tokenized stocks and metals. Tokenized stocks and metals are not available in the US and some other markets ¹.

ether.fi Cash is a Visa card linked to your ether.fi account ¹.

• Issuer and providers. Third National issues the card under a Visa license. Ether.Fi Cash Inc. provides it in the US. The international agreement adds Ether.Fi Cash Ltd. and says the international card is prohibited for US persons ⁸⁹¹⁰.
• How spending is funded. The US agreement describes a credit account with "no set line of credit." Your crypto serves as collateral, which the agreement says stays in your custody. Ether.Fi Cash Inc. never takes custody of it ⁸. The app offers two ways to pay: Direct Pay, which spends your balance, and Borrow mode, which borrows against your assets so you don't have to sell them ¹. If you use Borrow mode, the Borrow liquidation rules above apply.
• Fees. The international agreement sets a 1% base foreign transaction fee. Depending on tier, up to 0.50% (Core) or 0.25% (Luxe) can be added on top ⁹. ATM use counts as a cash advance under the US terms ⁸. Annual, late and other fees are listed in a separate fee schedule, not in the agreement text.
• Cashback. Rewards are paid in tokens, and you have to claim them. Rates vary by region and membership level and are shown in the app. ATM withdrawals, P2P payments and gift cards do not earn cashback. Unclaimed rewards can expire after six months of account inactivity ¹⁰.

• Audits and bounty. The docs list audits by Certora, CertiK, Decurity, Halborn, Nethermind, Omniscia, Paladin, Solidified and Zellic. The staking contracts have been reviewed since February 2023, most recently by Certora on June 28, 2026. Cash modules were reviewed by Certora and Paladin. A public bug bounty runs on Immunefi ⁵. An audit lowers risk but does not guarantee safety.
• Admin control. Multisigs govern the protocol, and their signer configurations are published ⁶. Signers can change or pause contracts within their permissions.
• Validator and slashing risk from node operator mistakes ³.
• Liquidity risk. Redemptions can slow down when many users exit at once, and eETH/weETH can trade below ETH ³.
• Layered risk in Liquid vaults, weETHs and Borrow, including liquidation ²¹¹.
• Card risks. Account freezes, cash-advance treatment of ATM use, and FX charges ⁸⁹.
• Phishing. Use ether.fi and help.ether.fi only, and never share a seed phrase.