Ethereum Rebounds Strongly, and ETF Pledge Expectations Drive Confidence to Recover

In recent days, Ethereum has pulled out a big positive line, which has greatly boosted the morale of the "E Guards" and the market's bullish sentiment has rapidly heated up.

Author: Nancy, PANews

In recent days, Ethereum has pulled out a big positive line, which has greatly boosted the morale of the "E Guards" and the market's bullish sentiment has rapidly heated up. This wave of strong pull-ups has not only brought about a comprehensive recovery in the Ethereum ecosystem, but also further heated up the market's expectations for the staking function of Ethereum spot ETFs, especially related staking projects have become a hot spot for capital chasing.

Ethereum rebounds strongly, and ETF pledge expectations drive confidence to recover

Recently, Ethereum has experienced a strong rebound for several consecutive days, and its total market value has surpassed Alibaba, ranking 39th in the world in terms of asset market value. The related surge topic even topped the Douyin hot list and became the focus of market discussion.

According to Coingecko data, as of May 12, the price of Ethereum rose to $2,521, a two-month high, with a 40.4% increase in the past seven days alone, and a market value surge of more than $87.58 billion in a single week. At the same time, Coinglass data shows that as of press time, Ethereum's monthly return rate in May has reached 39.53%, not only setting the strongest monthly increase since 2025, but also significantly surpassing the median increase (18.43%) and average increase (31.15%) in May of previous years. This round of strong rebound not only ended Ethereum's three-month downward trend, but also became a phased turning point for the significant recovery of market sentiment, showing a simultaneous recovery of capital and investment confidence.

The on-chain fund movement further verifies this trend. Artemis data shows that in the past 7 days, the Ethereum ecosystem has attracted an inflow of up to $1.2 billion, ranking first among all blockchains. Among them, the net inflow of funds exceeded $490 million, far ahead of other mainstream public chains.

The rebound is believed to be caused by the resonance of multiple factors, including marginal improvements in macroeconomic policies, price repair of previous excessive bearish sentiment, the upcoming Ethereum Pectra upgrade, the continued expansion of the reality narrative, and positive expectations for Ethereum spot ETF staking.

Among them, the ETF pledge function is expected to become one of the important catalysts. In the past few months, many institutions have actively sought approval from the SEC to introduce a mechanism in crypto ETF products. Although the SEC has recently postponed the approval of applications from Fidelity, Grayscale and other institutions, related discussions are accelerating.

At the end of April this year, Grayscale met with the US SEC Crypto Working Group in Washington, DC to discuss changes in the pledge regulation of Ethereum ETP, stating that the total assets managed by the US Ethereum ETP reached US$8.1 billion, but due to the inability to participate in pledge, it has lost about US$61 million in revenue from its launch to February 2025. The agency pointed out that the introduction of a pledge mechanism will help improve the security of the Ethereum network while bringing additional returns to shareholders.

Another asset management giant, BlackRock, also met with the SEC Crypto Working Group recently, covering topics such as crypto asset regulation, ETF pledge and options products. The document shows that the meeting discussed "considerations for promoting ETPs with pledge functions", and discussed the parameters for determining crypto ETF option positions and exercise limits, as well as specific standards for approving crypto ETFs. Among them, Robert Mitchnick, head of BlackRock's digital assets, who attended the meeting, said in March that if the Ethereum spot ETF can add a pledge function, although there are some "complex challenges" that need to be solved, pledge income is an important way to obtain investment returns in this field, which may become "a leap forward turning point" for Ethereum.

It is worth noting that Hong Kong regulators have taken a step ahead on the issue of crypto ETF pledge. In April of this year, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued new guidelines to allow licensed virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) to provide pledge services to customers. At the same time, virtual asset funds (such as Ethereum spot ETFs) can participate in on-chain pledge activities under the prudent regulatory framework, and subsequently approved two Ethereum spot ETF products with pledge functions.

The positive progress of these ETF staking has effectively boosted market expectations for Ethereum and further accelerated the process of confidence restoration.

The staking track has heated up significantly, and the TVL and coin prices of leading projects have soared

The Ethereum staking track has also become one of the key areas of focus for funds and narratives. DeFiLlama data shows that as of May 12, the TVL of the Ethereum staking track has rebounded to 34.11 billion US dollars, a