Staking goes mainstream: what 2026 could look like for ether investors

Source: CryptoNewsNet Original Title: Staking goes mainstream: what 2026 could look like for ether investors Original Link: Staking is no longer a niche add-on for ether investors in 2026 — it has become a defining feature of how institutions gain exposure to the cryptocurrency, shaping product design, returns and risk management across the market.

Near-term selling is constrained by staking, but coins are no longer trapped. With withdrawals running smoothly, ether now trades less like a locked-up asset and more like a yield-bearing position that investors can scale up or down as sentiment changes.

Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at Lido Ecosystem Foundation, says the past year laid the groundwork for institutional staked ether (stETH) adoption. The clearest signal came in December, when asset manager WisdomTree launched a staked ether exchange-traded product (ETP) using Lido’s stETH, listed across major European venues including SIX, Euronext and Xetra. The product is fully staked, a design choice Gilbert believes sets the tone for what comes next.