Top 5 DeFi Protocol EtherFi Unveils Non-Custodial 'Defibank'

Popular decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol EtherFi is launching its own non-custodial banking alternative, what it's calling the first "defibank."

The expansion will see a suite of DeFi tools integrated into EtherFi that will allow users to conduct day-to-day finances without relying on a traditional custodial bank.

Per a press release shared with The Defiant, the defibank experience looks to blend the UI/UX that users are accustomed to in their traditional banking interfaces with benefits of DeFi, such as lower fees, and higher yields or rewards.

The product suite will include EtherFi’s Stake, Cash, and Liquid tools. Stake allows users to deposit EtherFi assets like eBTC, eUSD, and weETH to earn yield, while Liquid lets users contribute assets to liquid strategy vaults for higher yields and reward. Cash is EtherFi’s DeFi-native credit card solution, with 2-3% cashback on physical credit cards that function based on crypto holdings.

The platform will also include fiat on and off ramps, eliminating the need to pay centralized exchange fees, and letting users quickly move funds to custodial fiat bank accounts when needed.

EtherFi is the fifth largest protocol in DeFi by total-value locked (TVL), with $5.24 billion, and the protocol reached an all-time high TVL of almost $11 billion in December, coinciding with ETH and BTC’s strong performance at the time.

The protocol released its season two airdrop in July 2024, and the token, ETHFI, currently trades near $0.60, or a $138 million market capitalization, and is up over 40% over the last week.

EtherFi co-founder and CEO Mike Silagadze told the Defiant in an interview:

“The end state of what we're looking for is creating a new financial infrastructure for people to be able to get their salary in crypto, deposit it into into EtherFi, to save their money, deploy their their money, and be able to spend their money, meaning pay their mortgage, pay their car, pay their utilities.”

Alongside EtherFi Cash, the protocol will also be launching open signups for its corporate card as it looks to step into the business operations side of finance.

“It [EtherFi's corporate card] allows crypto native businesses that have crypto treasuries to sign on as businesses and then issue cards to all of their employees to manage expenses and transactions and integrate into their accounting systems,” said Silagadze.

Disclaimer: This article was updated to reflect that "defibank" is a general category, not the name of EtherFi's banking product.