today’s low‑hanging alpha is hiding in plain sight:

nasdaq just slid in a “staking‑enabled” $eth etf

translation: the sec is warming up to on‑chain yield for u.s. money‑managers

most of the timeline stopped at the headline. here’s the trickle‑down that actually matters:

> every desk that hedges etf inflows will need raw eth for delta‑neutral books → spot gap opens the second allocations clear

> once grandma earns 3‑4 % through fidelity, lido / rocket restake yield becomes the new treasury benchmark for defi → rate desks will have to quote around it

> l2 sequencers can’t sit idle while institutions farm on mainnet → expect a flood of “wrapped staking eth” perps and basis trades across @Optimism, @base, @zksync, hyperEVM

the play is the next leg of the long‑degeneracy trade:

$BTC was the risk‑off warm‑up

$ETH staking flips the switch to yield‑on

anything stacked under eth’s economic gravity gets torque

shopping list i’m rotating into this week:

$ETH > the collateral everyone suddenly needs

$stETH / $rETH > liquid wrappers that price the new “defi risk‑free” rate

$LDO, $RPL > picks and shovels for the staking set

$uETH (unit) > eth exposure + hidden unit airdrop optionality

$HYPE > highest volume perp venue on hyperEVM, reflexive to eth tvl

@prjx_hl + hlx points > cheap ways to farm the perp liquidity that follows yield

weth/eth‑denom liquidity pool positions on @VestExchange, @Lighter_xyz, @hibachi_xyz > get paid to front‑run the basis trade

if grandma can park cash at 3 % without leaving her broker, you either front‑run the curve or you become the curve

> pick a side