Public companies that hold ether are turning to staking income to stay afloat as investment losses widen and the premium investors once paid for their shares evaporates. A new study from Everstake, a major staking provider, found that the digital-asset treasury model is shifting away from simple crypto exposure toward active yield generation — and that staking now accounts for 60% of revenue among ETH treasury companies.
Why the old model stopped working
For years, a handful of publicly traded firms sat on large piles of ether and basically did nothing with it. Investors paid up because the stock was a proxy for ETH itself. But the premium has shrunk, and the price of ether hasn't been kind to balance sheets. Losses from mark-to-market adjustments have eaten into equity. The Everstake study suggests those companies can no longer afford to just hold and hope.
Staking's share of the pie
The report puts a number on just how central staking has become: 60% of revenue for these firms now comes from staking rewards. That's not pocket change — it's the difference between reporting an operating loss and scraping by. The study describes the shift as a move from “crypto exposure” to “active yield generation,” a phrase that captures the pressure these companies are under. If they weren't staking, the math would look a lot worse.
Tougher conditions ahead
It's not getting easier. Publicly listed ether treasury companies are facing tougher conditions across the board. Lower ether prices squeeze the value of their core holdings. Staking yields themselves have come down as more ETH gets locked up. And the market isn't rewarding the stocks the way it used to. The Everstake study doesn't predict a breaking point, but the numbers suggest these firms are running out of easy moves.
The study implies that more companies will follow the same path — or find other ways to make their ether work. Some might explore DeFi lending or restaking protocols. Others could sell down positions to raise cash, which would put additional pressure on ETH price. For now, the playbook is clear: stake or sink. The next quarterly filings from these firms will show whether staking income is enough to offset the broader headwinds.
