Ether.fi will cut ties with EigenLayer by year-end after sector fees came in at a sliver of what ordinary staking earns.
Take $10 billion, lock it into restaking protocols, and collect about $100,000 a week. That is roughly what the sector produced in early September, and it explains why Ether.fi is walking away.
The protocol, the biggest player in liquid restaking, says it will be fully out of EigenLayer by the fourth quarter. It already trimmed restaking to less than 1% of its weETH token's exposure in August.
"There were no meaningful yield opportunities in restaking and there was some perceived risk from stakers, so we decided it made sense to exit," said Mike Silagadze, the chief executive.
Fifty-three to one
The comparison with plain staking is brutal. As of Sept. 8, restaking protocols held $10.02 billion and generated about $99,977 in weekly fees. Liquid-staking protocols held $51.87 billion and generated about $27.35 million.
Annualize those figures and restaking returns roughly 0.05% on assets, while liquid staking returns about 2.7%. Per dollar secured, ordinary staking pays about 53 times as much, without the added exposure to slashing and smart-contract failures that restaking introduces.
Profits have tracked fees lower. Combined gross profit at the five biggest restaking protocols still in the business was $953,350 in the second quarter, compared with $2.18 million three quarters before, a 56% drop.
Where Ether.fi is going
The exit looks less like a retreat once the company's revenue mix is considered. Cards and neobanking now account for 46% of monthly revenue, up from 17%. Close to half of Ether.fi's income already comes from consumer finance.
The holdouts
Pressure now shifts to EigenLayer's EIGEN token and to Renzo, Kelp, Swell, Puffer and Bedrock. Their valuations assumed restaking would become a lasting source of extra return on staked ether. The industry's largest participant has concluded otherwise.
Ten billion dollars remains in restaking, so the category will not vanish quickly. Capital that stays is doing so for reasons other than fees: token rewards, points programs or a bet that demand for shared security will eventually arrive.
The decisive signal is whether a second large protocol follows. Another exit would mark the fee gap as structural. If the rest hold on while fees stay near current levels, total value locked is the number most likely to give way.