Bankless co-founder David Hoffman stated he offered his $ETH after reassessing the long-running “$ETH is cash” thesis.
In a Could 26 X put up, Hoffman wrote that Ethereum has earned its present market place, however he sees much less room for $ETH to obtain a brand new structural rerating from the market.
Hoffman stated the sale doesn’t imply he has turned bearish on Ethereum. He stated he stays bullish on the community and its ecosystem, whereas arguing that solely a part of that progress could stream again to $ETH itself. He framed the choice as a capital allocation transfer after concluding that “the ‘$ETH is cash’ thesis has performed out.”
Ethereum progress could not stream on to $ETH
Hoffman’s argument facilities on how Ethereum creates worth. He stated the community helps functions, layer-2 networks, stablecoins, tokenized property, and DeFi, however its open-source design provides a lot of that worth again to the ecosystem.
In his view, Ethereum can develop as infrastructure even when $ETH doesn’t seize all of that progress as an asset.
https://t.co/5EOn4y2pdx
— David Hoffman (@TrustlessState) Could 26, 2026
He additionally pointed to stablecoins as a part of that shift. As beforehand reported in April, Ethereum’s stablecoin provide had reached a file $180 billion, giving the community near 60% of worldwide stablecoin provide. That helps community use, however it additionally reveals how Ethereum can strengthen dollar-based fee rails quite than solely $ETH demand.
In the meantime, as crypto.information reported, Vitalik Buterin stated the Ethereum Basis will promote much less $ETH underneath a leaner long-term plan targeted on safety, privateness, openness, and censorship resistance.
L2 exercise stays central to the controversy
The identical value-capture query additionally seems throughout Ethereum’s layer-2 roadmap. Hoffman stated L2 groups wanted freedom to maneuver quick, but additionally wanted stronger ties to the broader Ethereum economic system and model. His level was that Ethereum’s rollup technique helps scaling, however could depart extra margins with L2s and functions.
As beforehand reported by crypto.information, Gnosis, Zisk, and the Ethereum Basis launched the Ethereum Financial Zone at EthCC to handle L2 fragmentation. The framework targets greater than 20 L2s securing about $40 billion in worth and goals to standardize $ETH as gasoline throughout collaborating networks.
$ETH treasuries present one other facet of demand
Hoffman’s sale comes as some public firms preserve constructing Ethereum-linked treasury methods. Crypto.information reported that SharpLink secured inclusion within the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes, with the transfer tied to its Ethereum treasury enterprise and broader institutional crypto publicity.
That distinction provides the story its market angle. One Ethereum-native voice has moved away from $ETH as a private holding, whereas some firms proceed to construct monetary merchandise across the asset.
Hoffman’s place sits between these two views: Ethereum can continue to grow, however $ETH could not provide the rerating he as soon as anticipated.
The timing additionally lands throughout a wider Bankless transition. As crypto.information reported on Could 21, Bankless confronted backlash over reported workers cuts, whereas co-founder Ryan Sean Adams stated the media model’s first period had ended. Hoffman’s $ETH sale now provides one other marker to that shift.
In the meantime, Ethereum ($ETH) traded close to $2100 on the time of reporting, indicating 1% decline prior to now 24 hours and a couple of% decline prior to now week, primarily based on crypto.information knowledge.
