WisdomTree, a prominent asset manager, announced the launch of the WisdomTree Physical Lido Staked Ether ETP (ticker: LIST) on December 4, 2025.
This marks the first exchange-traded product (ETP) in Europe to hold 100% stETH—a liquid staking token issued by the Lido protocol—providing investors with direct exposure to staked Ethereum (ETH) and its associated staking rewards without the need for traditional unstaked buffers used in creations and redemptions.
Exclusively backed by stETH, which represents staked ETH on the Ethereum network via Lido. stETH allows staking without lock-up periods, enabling liquidity while earning yields through a rebasing mechanism that accrues rewards directly to token balances.
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Initial assets under management is approximately $50 million at launch. Fees: Management expense ratio of 0.50% 50 basis points. Listed on major European exchanges, making it accessible to institutional and retail investors through familiar channels.
Yield Mechanism: Tracks the spot price of stETH plus staking rewards, capitalizing on Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake transition to a yield-bearing network.
This launch underscores Europe’s progressive regulatory framework for physically backed crypto ETPs, including those with staked assets, which facilitates seamless integration into institutional workflows.
Lido, the protocol powering stETH, dominates Ethereum staking with about 25% market share roughly 8.5 million ETH across 650+ node operators, offering deep liquidity (~$10 billion in DeFi collateral) and robust security.
As Dovile Silenskyte, Director of Digital Assets Research at WisdomTree, noted: “Lido Staked Ether sits at the centre of Ethereum’s transition to a yield-bearing network. It allows holders to earn staking rewards without locking up capital, creating liquidity and efficiency that extends across decentralised finance.”
The product arrives amid growing institutional interest in Ethereum staking. In the U.S., issuers like VanEck have filed for staked ETH ETFs, and BlackRock is exploring staking options for its ETHA trust.
Globally, staking products date back to 2019, but regulated, fully staked ETPs like LIST represent a milestone in bridging DeFi with traditional finance. As disclosed by WisdomTree, investors should be aware of: Price divergence between stETH and ETH during market volatility.
Smart contract risks inherent to the Lido protocol. General cryptocurrency market fluctuations. This ETP is positioned for experienced investors seeking yield-enhanced Ethereum exposure.
By providing regulated access to staking rewards currently 3-5% APY, these products could drive fresh inflows into Ethereum, mirroring the post-ETF rally in spot ETH earlier in 2025. Analysts project ETH could retest $4,900 its prior all-time high or even target $8,000 if approvals materialize, fueled by technical patterns like the “W” bottom formation.
WisdomTree’s LIST debuted with ~$50 million AUM, a modest start but indicative of pent-up demand; similar U.S. products could scale to billions, compressing stETH-ETH premiums and enhancing overall liquidity.
Lido’s stETH underpins both products, controlling 25-33% of staked ETH ~8.5 million ETH, $38 billion TVL. The filings triggered a 7% surge in LDO Lido’s governance token, reflecting speculation on increased protocol usage.
This could solidify Lido’s market share but risks over-reliance, as Ethereum developers have floated caps on liquid staking to prevent centralization. Staked products outpace plain ETH ETFs/ETPs by accruing rewards, making them more attractive amid Ethereum’s post-Merge evolution.
Europe’s LIST avoids “unstaked buffers” for efficient redemptions, setting a blueprint that could pressure issuers like BlackRock exploring staking for its $11.5 billion ETHA to adapt.
Institutions gain tax-efficient, compliant exposure to staking without running validators or navigating lock-ups—stETH’s rebasing mechanism auto-accrues yields while maintaining liquidity ~$10 billion in DeFi collateral.
LIST’s listing on exchanges like Xetra and Euronext democratizes this for European retail and pros, while VanEck’s ETF could do the same in the U.S., lowering barriers via familiar wrappers.
As Lido’s Kean Gilbert noted, stETH is already “the most widely used path” for institutions; these products formalize it.
USDC Achieves Native Interoperability between Hyperliquid’s HyperCore and HyperEVM
Hyperliquid announced that USDC has achieved native interoperability between HyperCore its high-performance trading engine and HyperEVM its EVM-compatible smart contract layer.
This integration enables secure, natively minted cross-chain USDC deposits directly to HyperCore via Circle’s CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol), abstracting away the minting process on HyperEVM.
Users can now perform one-click USDC deposits from CCTP-enabled chains starting with Arbitrum, with more coming soon straight to HyperCore, without relying solely on the existing Arbitrum bridge.
Transfers between HyperCore and HyperEVM are now seamless, though some HyperCore-to-HyperEVM moves might temporarily fail if HyperEVM liquidity is low—funds stay safe on HyperCore in those cases, and you can fall back to the Arbitrum route.
No immediate changes needed: Deposits and withdrawals continue to work via the Arbitrum bridge or HyperEVM. The Arbitrum bridge will eventually be deprecated as native minting takes over, but Hyperliquid is prioritizing a gradual, secure rollout to give users and builders time to adapt.
This reduces bridge risks, simplifies UX, and unlocks deeper liquidity for trading, DeFi apps, and yield products on Hyperliquid. Circle’s involvement including CCTP V2 positions USDC as the go-to stablecoin here, with over $4B already bridged to the ecosystem.
Early adopters like Liminal are already enabling USDC-backed yield minting across both layers. Hyperliquid’s official post sums it up well: “This is a major milestone in allowing secure, natively minted cross chain USDC deposits directly to HyperCore.”
This builds on CCTP V2’s burn-and-mint mechanism, enabling seamless, one-click USDC deposits from supported chains like Arbitrum directly to HyperCore—without wrappers, bridges, or multi-step processes.
While the transition is gradual Arbitrum bridge remains active as a fallback, the long-term vision is full deprecation of external dependencies, positioning Hyperliquid as a self-sovereign DeFi powerhouse.
Users can now transfer native USDC from 20+ CCTP-supported chains, Ethereum, Base, Solana straight to HyperCore in a single transaction, abstracting the HyperEVM minting step. This cuts deposit times from minutes/hours via bridges to seconds, with sub-second finality on Hyperliquid’s architecture.
HyperCore-to-HyperEVM transfers might fail temporarily due to low HyperEVM liquidity, but funds stay secure in HyperCore—no losses, just route via Arbitrum as backup. This minimizes UX disruptions while building confidence.
Over $5.3B in USDC is already locked in Hyperliquid’s ecosystem, enabling instant use as collateral for perps/spot trading like $398B in Q3 2025 perp volumes or yield products like HLP vaults 38% APR. It unlocks delta-neutral strategies and tokenized positions without bridge risks.
Lowers barriers for retail and institutions; e.g., BitGo’s custodial integration now pairs with native USDC for secure TradFi inflows. CCTP’s single-transaction flow from source chains to HyperCore simplifies dApp development—e.g., auto-deposits into lending pools or swaps without custom bridge logic.
Builders are urged to migrate to HyperEVM USDC flows now, with Circle providing SDKs and toolkits. Hooks in CCTP V2 allow atomic post-mint actions, auto-lend USDC on HyperEVM, fostering innovative DeFi primitives like cross-chain rebalancing or tokenized perps.
This unifies HyperCore’s deep liquidity ~$1.77B+ DeFi TVL with HyperEVM’s smart contracts. Circle’s new incentives for HyperEVM/HIP-3 builders like grants, points programs and potential validator role signal long-term support. Partners like Across Protocol, Wormhole, and ValantisLabs are already integrating, accelerating multi-chain apps.
If you’re trading or building on Hyperliquid, test a small CCTP deposit to get ahead of the migration.