Trump-Linked Crypto Platform's $33M Ether Transfer Spurs ETF Staking Hopes

Sentiment towards Ethereum's ether (ETH) has sunk to depressed levels in recent times, but the latest maneuver of President Donald Trump-related crypto platform could spur hope for a reversal.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform linked to the Trump family, this week deposited a total of 10,000 ether (ETH) worth $33 million to liquid staking platform Lido Finance (LDO) to stake and earn rewards, blockchain data by Arkham Intelligence showed. Lido is the largest ether staking platform with $31 billion of assets posted on the platform.

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.