Mike Silagadze

Co-founder and CEO ether.fi

Last Reviewed: September 23, 2026

Executive Summary

Mike Silagadze is the co-founder and CEO of ether.fi. The protocol started as a way to stake ether while keeping control of one’s own keys, and has grown into what he describes as a self-custodial alternative to a bank. It now offers a payment card, yield products, tokenized stocks and metals, and portfolio loans. ether.fi is his second company. In 2009 he co-founded Top Hat, the higher-education classroom platform, with Mohsen Shahini in an apartment near the University of Waterloo, and he led it as CEO. By August 2026 ether.fi reported about 500,000 users and around 150,000 cards issued.

Career Highlights

• Co-founder and CEO of ether.fi, a non-custodial Ethereum staking and DeFi protocol.
• In August 2026, led ether.fi’s expansion into tokenized stocks and metals and Aave-powered portfolio loans.
• ether.fi reported about 500,000 users and roughly 150,000 payment cards issued as of August 2026.
• Co-founded Top Hat with Mohsen Shahini in 2009 and served as its CEO. According to his biography, it grew to 500 employees and millions of paying customers.

Professional Journey

Silagadze’s first company came out of the lecture hall. In 2009 he and Mohsen Shahini started Top Hat in a small apartment near the University of Waterloo, aiming to make large university lectures more interactive. As founder and CEO he built it into an education technology software company with about 500 employees and millions of paying customers, according to his conference biography. When he gave up the chief executive role was not established.

He then moved into Ethereum infrastructure as co-founder and CEO of ether.fi. The original product was liquid staking designed so that stakers keep control of their keys throughout the process, which the company presents as a truly decentralized version of liquid staking. From there ether.fi added yield products and a Cash card, and by 2026 Silagadze was describing the company as a consumer bank built on crypto rails. In a January 2026 interview with CoinDesk he argued that crypto neobanks offering stablecoins and yield would drive Ethereum adoption more than exchange-traded funds.

In August 2026 ether.fi added tokenized stocks and metals, and portfolio loans through Aave at borrowing rates near 4%, to its self-custodial offering, alongside 3% cash back on Cash card purchases. Silagadze said the goal was “to replace the traditional bank for most users”. The Block reported the company had about 500,000 users and around 150,000 cards issued at that point. His biography also describes him as an active angel investor and mentor to startups.

Education

No education record was established from a primary source. Top Hat’s history places its founders near the University of Waterloo but does not say where he studied or what degree he holds.