Restaking Gold Rush Ends as Top Protocols See Profits Plummet

restaking gold rush — Major Ethereum restaking protocols are generating minimal profits as yields have collapsed, leading prominent projects like ether.fi to pivot away from the core business.

According to a CoinDesk report, the five largest liquid restaking tokens collectively earned just $953,350 in gross profit last quarter, a sharp decline from $2.18 million three quarters earlier. The sector, which secures over $10 billion in assets, generated a mere $99,977 in fees over a recent week, a figure dwarfed by plain liquid staking’s returns.

Ether.fi, a leading protocol, is severing its final structural ties to the EigenLayer restaking platform this quarter. CEO Mike Silagadze cited excessive risk with no meaningful yield as the reason for the exit, with under 1% of the protocol’s assets still restaked as of August.

The pivot marks a significant shift for a sector that saw explosive growth in 2024. Ether.fi, which launched with automatic restaking on EigenLayer, is now building a crypto neobank instead, signaling a broader reassessment of the restaking model’s economic viability.