Ethereum Ecosystem Updates: Lending, Privacy, and Institutional Growth

Ethereum continues to evolve with a series of significant updates across lending, privacy, layer-2 development, institutional products, staking, and ETF activity. Key highlights include Coinbase’s new ETH-backed loans, the launch of Aztec’s mainnet, perpetual futures in Singapore, a revised Ethereum Foundation grants program, the introduction of Kohaku privacy tools, and BitMine’s plans for a large validator network. 2025 marked with major market shifts, including outflows from ETH spot ETFs and increased futures funding rates.