Ether.fi adds tokenized stocks, metals and Aave-powered portfolio loans in latest 'neobank' expansion

Quick Take

• Ether.fi's non-custodial neobank app "Summer" upgrade adds tokenized stock and metal trading, full-portfolio borrowing via Aave and expanded global fiat payments, among other updates.
• The protocol said it is trying to be "less crypto-forward," aimed at attracting "a much broader audience."

Ether.fi launched an upgraded version of its non-custodial "neobank," integrating trading in tokenized stocks and metals, portfolio borrowing via Aave, expanded global fiat payments and programmatic buybacks of its ETHFI token into a single app designed as an alternative to traditional banks, according to an announcement on Thursday.

The project's "Summer" release allows users to buy tokenized equities and commodities through xStocks alongside crypto assets, hold them in self-custodial vaults with social recovery, and borrow against their full portfolio at DeFi rates currently near 4% to fund spending on the ether.fi Cash card or other transfers.

In the announcement, Ether.fi noted its updated app is "less crypto-forward," and aimed at attracting "a much broader audience."

"With ether.fi, we're bridging the gap between decentralized finance and everyday financial needs," ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze said. "Our goal is to replace the traditional bank for most users and give them tools and benefits that were previously available only to institutions and high-net-worth individuals. That is the power of DeFi and self-custody."

The move comes amid a wave of similar product launches by some of the biggest crypto companies. Nearly all major centralized exchanges from Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and OKX have begun adding tokenized stocks and banking-like features, essentially in a bid to develop into financial superapps.

Ether.fi neobank move

Crypto neobanks, in general, are apps aiming to replace traditional bank accounts by combining self-custody wallets, yield-bearing balances, payment options, borrowing, and increasingly tokenized real-world assets.

Ether.fi already has a foothold in consumer-friendly payments as one of the largest crypto-native payment card providers, with anout 500,000 users and about 150,000 cards, Silagadze told The Block.

Earlier this month, Etherfi moved to exit its weETH restaking exposure on EigenLayer in favor of Symbiotic rails.

Over the past several months, the team has also began allocating capital to other income-generating opportunities in the real-world asset space. One of its biggest allocations was contributing $3 billion in ETH as "validator liquidity" to ETHGas, an Ethereum blockspace futures platform, in a three-year deal.

The protocol was once focused entirely on the once-buzzy world of asset "restaking," and now offers a non-custodial way for users to spend stablecoins and use staked and restaked assets like eETH as collateral for spending while earning yield.

Etherfi, as of its latest update, will offer 3% cash back on all ether.fi Cash card purchases, and zero top-up fees and zero "FX fees at higher membership tiers." Users can still hold yield-bearing assets as collateral or spend them directly. It also features a new Optimism-based Aave market that enables users to borrow against portfolios "at standard DeFi rates currently around 4%" to spend via the ether.fi Cash card.

Of note, earlier this year, Ether.fi transitioned its card to Optimism from the Scroll Ethereum Layer 2.

According to the announcement, the project is also adding new on- and off-ramps that support more than 30 currencies and methods including Apple Pay and Cash App.

Some features, including tokenized stock trading, will remain unavailable in the U.S. and certain other markets. "for users that are in countries that we can't issue cards for they would be using staking or fiat on/off ramp rails," Silagadze said.

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