The next major growth phase for Ethereum won’t be driven by the speculative frenzy of retail traders, but by the quiet, steady march of digital banking. That’s the bold prediction from Mike Silagadze, CEO of liquid restaking platform ether.fi, who sees an army of “crypto neobanks” as the primary engine for Ethereum’s adoption in 2026.
According to Silagadze, the focus is shifting from “gambling” style trading to real-world, practical financial utility. He argues that the future of the Ethereum ecosystem hinges on its ability to deliver products that feel familiar to everyday users, even if they are built entirely on decentralized crypto rails. These new platforms—the “neobanks” of the digital asset world—are essentially hybrid applications that blend traditional features like debit cards and bank accounts with crypto services like stablecoin custody, staking, and yield generation.
This perspective marks a notable transition from the previous year. Silagadze viewed 2025 as a turning point defined by the large-scale entry of institutional investors, mainly through mechanisms like Digital Asset Treasury companies (DATs). This institutional activity, he noted, had a positive impact on the price of Ether, which soared from a low of $1,472 in April to a high of $4,832 during the peak of the DAT trend. Now, the groundwork is laid, and the next frontier is the consumer.
The Real-World Bridge to Crypto
The growth of the crypto neobank movement is already gaining steam, with major fintech players aggressively expanding their digital asset offerings. Companies like Revolut and N26 have long integrated the ability to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum directly within their apps, making it simple for customers to manage both fiat and crypto from a single dashboard.
However, the next step involves greater on-chain participation. The ultimate goal is to allow users to spend their digital assets just as easily as they spend dollars or euros. Firms are now focused on products like cards that draw directly from stablecoin balances, enabling instant, borderless transactions and providing a stable on-ramp to more complex decentralized finance, or DeFi, products.
The integration of stablecoins—digital assets pegged to a stable value like the US dollar—is seen as particularly critical. Silagadze believes that as stablecoins become more deeply integrated into global finance, the digital banking movement offers one of the clearest paths to sustained adoption for Ethereum. This is supported by the fact that even major players like Robinhood and Revolut are exploring the possibility of launching their own stablecoins to capture market share.
Furthermore, this adoption is moving beyond simple trading. Robinhood, for instance, has unveiled plans that include new offerings like stock tokens and a dedicated Layer 2 network, the Robinhood Chain, built on the Arbitrum platform to facilitate tokenized assets. This effort to build proprietary on-chain infrastructure demonstrates a long-term commitment to a future where traditional financial services are simply run on the Ethereum blockchain.
For Ethereum to truly succeed in 2026, Silagadze emphasizes its need to deliver practical utility at scale. The trend is clear: the excitement is moving from pure price speculation to the tangible application of decentralized technology in your wallet and on your debit card. It’s a shift that could finally bring the benefits of blockchain out of the trading world and into the hands of the mass market.