Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at Lido, suggests that Ether treasury companies should adopt liquid staking to surpass the returns of staked Ether ETFs. Speaking at ETHCC 2026, Gilbert emphasized that liquid staking allows Ether holders to stake their tokens while still utilizing them in decentralized finance (DeFi), potentially offering higher returns than passive staking products. The U.S. market has seen the introduction of several staked ETH products, including the REX-Osprey ETH + Staking ETF and BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF. These products offer varying staking rewards, with Grayscale's ETFs showing net staking rewards of 2.26% and 2.56% as of early April. In contrast, native ETH staking yields approximately 2.72% annually. Gilbert argues that strategies like using ETH as collateral could enhance treasury returns beyond these passive options.