A Messari analyst sparked heated debate over the weekend after declaring Ethereum is “dying” as community income declined in August.
In an X put up on Saturday, Messari analysis supervisor AJC acknowledged that “Ethereum’s fundamentals are collapsing,” as Ethereum’s income from charges in August was $39.2 million, down over 40% year-over-year and roughly 20% month-over-month.
Supply: AJC
However many who learn the put up disagreed, pointing to Ethereum’s rising metrics, app income, stablecoin provide, continued L2 scaling and a distinction between Ethereum being a commodity, quite than a tech inventory — that means it shouldn’t be valued based mostly on income.
Ethereum remains to be a vibrant ecosystem
A big a part of Ethereum’s fall in income has come on account of the Dencun improve in March 2024, which lowered transaction charges for layer-2 scaling networks utilizing it as a base layer to put up transactions.
Talking to Cointelegraph, Henrik Andersson, chief funding officer of funding agency Apollo Crypto, mentioned it’s unlikely Ethereum is dying, as a result of information from Ethereum L2s analytics software growthepie exhibits it’s nonetheless “a vibrant ecosystem with stablecoin provide, throughput, and lively addresses are all at or near all-time excessive.”
As of Aug. 30, there have been additionally over 552,000 day by day lively addresses on Ethereum in line with funding analysis platform YCharts, representing a 21% improve for the reason that similar time in 2024.
There have been over 552,000 day by day lively addresses on Ethereum as of Aug. 30. Supply: YCharts
“We imagine each Ethereum and Bitcoin have a spot in a crypto portfolio,” Andersson mentioned.
“Ethereum is turning into the impartial decentralized base layer for finance and identical to Bitcoin will not be valued on income however as a retailer of worth, we don’t imagine Ethereum will be valued solely on its income.”
In response to critics, nevertheless, AJC defended his use of income to worth the layer-1 blockchain, explaining that as a result of it’s collected in Ether (ETH), one of many largest historic demand drivers of consumption is now “trending towards zero.”
On the similar time, AJC argued that lively addresses and transactions are “meaningless statistics because it pertains to demand.”
Ethereum has been declared “lifeless” 40 instances this yr
Ethereum has been declared by numerous sources no less than 150 instances since 2014; most of those deaths have been recorded this yr, with about 40, in line with Ethereum Obituaries.
Ethereum has been declared lifeless 150 instances earlier than ACJ’s put up. Supply: Ethereum Obituaries
Ryan McMillin, chief funding officer at Merkle Tree Capital, advised Cointelegraph that Ethereum continues to adapt and is mostly declared lifeless in moments of narrative weak spot, falling charges, transaction trending decrease, or when rivals outpace it.
He mentioned that in idea, as a result of sensible contracts are a aggressive sector, builders and capital might slowly however completely migrate elsewhere.
“However in observe, its developer neighborhood, entrenched DeFi protocols, and regulatory acceptance give it extra endurance than the obituaries recommend; its present narrative is it is going to be the TradFi chain of alternative, though the SOL ETF might disrupt that too,” McMillin mentioned.
“The larger story is that crypto is maturing into an ecosystem of differentiated property, and Ethereum will stay one of many central items for years to come back, and competitors with different L1s may be very wholesome.”
McMillin mentioned he doesn’t suppose Ethereum is “dying,” however mentioned it has been caught in a “tough spot” for almost two years as a result of it’s trapped between Bitcoin’s narrative as digital gold and Solana’s pitch because the quicker, cheaper various.
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“Ethereum’s ultra-sound cash framing was by no means going to win towards Bitcoin’s tougher financial premium, and in the case of throughput and price, Solana merely provides magnitudes of enchancment,” he mentioned.
One space that has helped Etherum in 2025 is its spot exchange-traded funds, which unlocked conventional finance flows and positioned Ether as a levered play on stablecoin adoption and community progress, in line with McMillin.
“However that benefit might not final lengthy, spot Solana ETFs are anticipated within the coming weeks, which might rapidly degree the taking part in discipline for mainstream capital inflows.”
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