#Trump-related Platform Staking ETH#

Recently, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform with ties to the Trump family, deposited a total of 10,000 Ether (ETH), worth $33 million, into the liquid staking platform Lido Finance (LDO) for staking and rewards. This move has sparked hopes that regulators may soon allow spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Hester Peirce, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner who currently leads the agency's cryptocurrency task force, said during an interview with Coinage last month that she would be open to considering a staking ETF. Gary Gensler, the former SEC chairman, known for his stance against cryptocurrencies, resigned on January 20 due to Trump's inauguration. Staking would increase the appeal of investment products, allowing investors to earn stable returns on their holdings and lowering product fees. According to data from SoSoValue, U.S. spot ETH ETFs hold a total of $12 billion in assets. Potential regulatory approval could also shake up ETH prices and nearby ecosystem tokens, such as Lido's LDO. The future of Ethereum has been under intense scrutiny recently, due to price drops compared to rivals, leadership disputes, and concerns about the project's roadmap. ETH’s price against Bitcoin (BTC) recently fell to its lowest point in four years, ceding market share of trading activity to fast-growing blockchains like Solana. Meanwhile, bitcoin ETF inflows have surged, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF seeing inflows of 6,208 BTC (about $648 million), bringing its current holdings to 569,343 BTC (about $59.4 billion). Ethereum ETF net inflows amounted to 18,108 ETH (about $59.59 million), with BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum ETF seeing inflows of 16,959 ETH (about $55.81 million) for a total holding value of approximately $3.87 billion. Bitwise Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund BITB has reached holdings of 42,650.19 BTC, with a market value exceeding $4.5 billion. Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin options trading shows the strongest bullish sentiment since Trump's election win on November 5. Data show that options trading skew rose to 4.4%, a new high since early November.