David Hoffman, one of the most prominent Ethereum bulls and co-founder of media powerhouse Bankless, revealed he has liquidated his entire ETH position, dropping a detailed breakdown of his motivations.
"My decision doesn’t stem from a lack of trust in the Ethereum ecosystem, but rather a total re-evaluation of the 'ETH is money' thesis, which has underpinned a massive portion of the crypto market for years," he declared.
Why Hoffman exited ETH
In his published thesis, Hoffman labeled Ethereum a "highly complex coordination system" where the success of the asset hinged on multiple synchronized fronts:
- The performance of the base layer
- The expansion of layer-2 scaling solutions
- The velocity of core tech upgrades
- Overall market positioning
- The community’s ability to defend its turf against aggressive competitors
In his view, pulling off the concept of ETH as a global money asset demanded flawless execution across every single tier of the ecosystem.
"Ethereum partially delivered on this vision, but the window for the market to reprice ETH accordingly is slamming shut," he said.
He noted that Ethereum chose a far more grueling path than Bitcoin. While BTC consolidated its entire value proposition solely around the asset itself, Ethereum attempted to engineer a blockchain into a universal launchpad for decentralized applications, stablecoins, DeFi protocols, and tokenized real-world assets.
The ultimate valuation factor
Hoffman drew attention to how heavily layer-1 asset valuations rely on onchain revenue and user activity metrics. He pointed to Solana's explosive growth in 2024 and NEAR's massive repricing in 2026 as prime examples, both driven by surging network fees and accelerating token burn rates.
"Ethereum failed to sustain its dominance over network revenues long enough for its native token to permanently cement its status as the supreme money asset of the crypto market," the Bankless co-founder noted.
Hoffman also pointed out that while the Ethereum ecosystem successfully bolsters both ETH and alternative forms of digital cash, ranging from algorithmic stablecoins to tokenized dollars, the underlying architecture is working against the native asset.
According to his assessment, the current Ethereum model allows top-tier applications to capture the lion's share of transaction fees, while the rollup-centric roadmap hands almost all the profit margin over to layer 2 networks. Within this structural design, ETH stops acting as the primary vacuum for value within its own network.
Hoffman added that he doesn't anticipate a violent repricing for ETH in either direction. He framed the total liquidation of his bags simply as a desire to reallocate capital into alternative market sectors, while maintaining a fundamentally positive outlook on Ethereum's technology and its broader ecosystem.
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