[PRESS RELEASE – Georgetown, Cayman Islands, April 15th, 2026]

The three-year deal commits $3Bn in ETH to ETHGas’ High Performance Staking Service and marks a major step toward forward pricing infrastructure for Ethereum’s growing institutional settlement layer.

ETHGas, a performance infrastructure bringing forward markets and execution guarantees to Ethereum, and ether.fi, the leading onchain banking alternative and non-custodial staking protocol, today announced a $3Bn commercial deal to advance the development of institutional-grade blockspace markets on Ethereum.

The Gap in Ethereum’s Market Infrastructure

Ethereum currently allocates blockspace through a real-time spot auction with no mechanism for forward pricing, pre-purchase, or execution guarantees. Every block is contested at the last second, leaving validators with unpredictable revenue, applications without certainty of execution, and institutions without the risk-management tools to operate at scale. As throughput grows and institutional activity accelerates, evidenced by over $25Bn in ETH held across institutional vehicles, the absence of a forward market for blockspace becomes an increasingly critical gap in Ethereum’s financial infrastructure.

How ETHGas Solves This For Wall Street

ETHGas creates an exchange layer where validators can pre-sell future block inclusion rights, and buyers, including rollups, traders, solvers, and onchain applications, can purchase guaranteed execution in advance. This introduces a forward curve for Ethereum blockspace, enabling genuine price discovery for the network’s most fundamental resource and the risk management tools institutional participants require to operate at scale on Ethereum.

Building the Supply Side

A forward market for blockspace only functions with deep, committed validator participation behind it. ether.fi, with over 2.8M staked ETH under management and one of the largest validator footprints on Ethereum, brings exactly that. Its $3Bn commitment to ETHGas’ HPS service establishes the supply side foundation the market needs to offer credible execution guarantees to institutional buyers, rollups, and onchain applications at scale.

“Every major commodity market in history has moved from spot to futures. Ethereum blockspace is next. ether.fi’s commitment gives us the validator depth to make that market real, and with it, the foundation for Ethereum to function as a settlement layer for global institutional capital,” said Kevin Lepsoe, Founder and CEO of ETHGas.

Partnership Terms

Under the agreement, ether.fi has agreed to commit approximately 40% of its current ETH holdings, equivalent to $3Bn, to ETHGas’ High Performance Staking (HPS) Service for a term of three years, deployed immediately upon execution. ether.fi has also agreed to use ETHGas’ preconfirmation platform exclusively during the term. Commitments are subject to ongoing performance thresholds, and the parties may expand the partnership’s scope and scale under a separate agreement.

The three-year structure reflects the scale of the infrastructure being built. Establishing a deep, liquid market for blockspace futures takes time, but the payoff extends well beyond institutions, validators, and traders. Enterprise and developers building on Ethereum gain something they never had before, the ability to design applications around guaranteed execution timelines and predictable transaction costs. This changes what is possible to build, supporting Wall Street’s tokenization scale-up and Ethereum’s use in consumer applications where transaction costs, like electricity, become an “invisible” cost to the consumer.

“Committing validator capacity to ETHGas is a direct extension of our mission to maximize what staked ETH can do. Preconfirmations improve execution certainty for our users, and participating in a structured forward market for blockspace opens yield opportunities that have never existed before. We are building for where Ethereum is going, not where it is today,” said Mike Silagadze, CEO and Founder of ether.fi.

The partnership sets a precedent for how major ETH holders can participate in the next phase of Ethereum’s development. As tokenized assets move onchain at scale and institutional demand for predictable, reliable execution grows, blockspace becomes a critical infrastructure layer for global financial markets. ETHGas and ether.fi’s commitment marks the beginning of a broader effort to build the validator depth and market structure Ethereum needs to meet that demand.

About ETHGas

ETHGas is a settlement infrastructure for Ethereum blockspace commitments. ETHGas transforms how users interact with Ethereum by enabling low-latency, 3ms settlement times and a comprehensive product suite centered on precision and predictable order execution. ETHGas’s mission is to advance Ethereum into a real-time network, unlocking the next stage of its evolution. ETHGas envisions a future where end-users can shield themselves from gas price volatility, unlock opportunities for additional yield, and enhance their experience within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Users can follow ETHGas developments on X (Twitter) or contact ETHGas directly with any enquiries

About ether.Fi

ether.fi is the fastest-growing onchain banking alternative with the leading crypto credit card by spend volume, Cash. What started as a restaking protocol has grown into a full financial platform — DeFi-native and mainstream users alike use our vaults, staking, and credit card products to bridge their on-chain and off-chain financial lives. ether.fi excels at helping users earn and spend on their crypto with ease and peace of mind.

More information about ether.fi and their latest developments on X (Twitter) and their website.

Ethereum is the winner from today’s crypto market rally, surging more than 8% to its highest level since early February.

Ether has outperformed its crypto brethren today, surging 8.1% over the past 24 hours to hit $2,380 in early trading in Asia on Tuesday morning.

It is the highest the asset has traded since February 2, just after it crashed from $3,000 in a couple of days.

Santiment reported on Tuesday morning that the number of Ethereum whale wallets holding at least 100,000 ETH has jumped 5.5% in the past week.

“You can expect a level of correlation with price when this number grows, and there is strong justification that the #2 market cap can continue its rise.”

🐳 The number of Ethereum wallets holding at least 100K $ETH has jumped from 54 to 57 in the past week. You can expect a level of correlation with price when this number grows, and there is strong justification that the #2 market cap can continue its rise. pic.twitter.com/bYYHoY4Y5M

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 13, 2026

Markets Rally on Iran Deal Hopium

According to Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, ETH is the best-performing asset since the start of the Iran conflict, gaining 17.4%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 1830 basis points, and gold by 2,743 basis points.

ETH is holding onto its gains at the time of writing, trading around $2,375, but it remains within a two-and-a-half-month-long rangebound channel and needs to break above $2,400 to see any serious gains.

Crypto investors are reacting to the latest news from the Middle East that President Trump has initiated a US military blockade of Iranian ports and threatened any Iranian ships that approach.

However, he also said on ‌Monday that Iran wants to make a deal.

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US Vice President JD ⁠Vance said in ​an interview with ​Fox News that the US expects Iran ​to ​make ⁠progress on opening the Strait ​of Hormuz, adding the ‌ball ⁠was in Iran’s court.

Progress = good https://t.co/TSaBrkCY2S

— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com (@fundstrat) April 14, 2026

Crypto Markets Add $100B

This big move has added around $100 billion to total market capitalization, which has hit a four-week high of $2.6 trillion.

Swissblock reported that its “Risk Index has now transitioned into low risk for the first time since mid-March. “That signals bulls are starting to gain ground over sellers.”

Ethereum was the best high-cap performer, but Bitcoin also added 4.7% on the day to reach $74,800, where it found resistance again. BTC also remains within its sideways channel and, without further impetus, is likely to be rejected here.

Altcoin moves were muted by comparison, but those see better daily gains included Solana, WhiteBIT Coin, Hyperliquid, Chainlink, and Sui.

One analyst said ETH could be aiming for a brief pump before it nosedives again.

The non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and developing the Ethereum ecosystem has disposed of all 5,000 ETH it had planned to sell.

Meanwhile, some whales and institutions have started to accumulate, while the spot ETH ETFs ended the week in the green for the first time in almost a month.

EF Sells, Whales Buy

After reaching its goal of 70,000 staked ETH, the Ethereum Foundation outlined plans to dispose of 5,000 ETH to fund its operations. The sell-offs were completed in a couple of batches, with the first finishing on April 9 and the second on April 11.

The average price at which the organization disposed of its tokens was $2,221, according to data from Lookonchain. They converted the funds into 11.11 million DAI.

The #EthereumFoundation has sold the remaining 1,250 $ETH($2.8M).

So far, all 5,000 $ETH planned for sale have been fully converted into 11.11M $DAI, at an average price of $2,221.https://t.co/nwflbWOvSl pic.twitter.com/wAb4FA5V5N

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 11, 2026

In contrast, additional data from Lookonchain shows that a wallet linked to Cumberland withdrew roughly $60 million in ETH from several exchanges, including OKX and Binance.

The spot Ethereum ETFs also finished the week strong, with $85.19 million in net inflows on Thursday and another $65 million on Friday. Given Monday’s $120.24 million, which offset the losses on Tuesday and Wednesday, the week ended with net inflows of $187.07 million, making it the first green week since the one that ended on March 13.

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One Last Pump?

ETH was among the biggest beneficiaries of the two-week truce between Iran and the US, as it surged from $2,050 to over $2,250 as of press time. Well-known crypto analyst Ted Pillows believes the asset could target $2,350-$2,400 after rebounding above $2,200, which would “likely be the last pump” before another correction, as shown in his chart below.

$ETH is back above the $2,200 level.

If this zone holds, Ethereum could move towards the $2,350-$2,400 level, which would likely be the last pump. pic.twitter.com/3UQCv5nzKH

— Ted (@TedPillows) April 11, 2026

Meanwhile, another analyst, CW, indicated that there’s a notable uptick in ETH futures whales “ending their rest and moving again” as evident by the increasing number of long positions, which “had been quiet since the 8th.”