Analyst: Ethereum is currently experiencing a "narrative tension" between two narratives, with staking transforming the essence of an Ethereum ETF into a yield product

BlockBeats News, February 18th. Over the past few weeks, the price of Ethereum has continued to fluctuate around $2,000. Many market observers point out that this reflects Ethereum's current dilemma of being caught in a "narrative rut."

Analyst Callan Sarre stated: "For the past few years, Ethereum's story has been simple—L2 scales, base layer stays lean and secure. Now with L2 processing billions of dollars in weekly transaction volume, fees down over 90%, but the question is where long-term value accrues." The market is now pushing for zero-knowledge tech and privacy features closer to the base layer, "for traders stuck in old models, it feels like the ground is shifting beneath them."

Sarre emphasized the contradiction between transparency and institutional demand: "Today every Ethereum transaction is fully public, which doesn't work for a CFO managing corporate treasuries or funds deploying nine-figure positions. If Ethereum is to attract trillions of institutional capital, privacy must be built into the protocol layer."

Grayscale began distributing staking rewards to US Ethereum ETF holders in January, and BlackRock has also filed for its staking ETH fund. PrimeXBT's Senior Market Analyst, Jonatan Randin, stated: "This changes the nature of Ethereum ETFs—it's no longer just price exposure but an interest-bearing product." He emphasized that the growth of the options market is reshaping the asset's volatility profile, "introducing dynamics around spot ETFs in the options market such as covered call writing, dealer hedging, which didn't exist two years ago."