Bankless co-founder David Hoffman stated that he sold a portion of his ETH after reassessing the long-held theory that "ETH is money."
In a post on the X platform on May 26, Hoffman noted that Ethereum has secured its position in the current market, but he believes there is limited room for re-evaluation of ETH in the market.
Hoffman emphasized that this sale does not indicate a pessimistic view towards Ethereum. He remains confident in the Ethereum network and its ecosystem, although he believes that part of this growth may not be directly reflected in ETH. He views this decision as an adjustment in capital allocation, asserting that the theory of "ETH is money" has largely been realized.
The growth of Ethereum may not directly flow into ETH.
Hoffman's argument revolves around how Ethereum creates value. He pointed out that the network supports applications, Layer 2 networks, stablecoins, tokenized assets, and decentralized finance (DeFi News), but its open-source design means that much of the value is returned to the ecosystem.
In his view, even if ETH as an asset fails to fully capture this growth, Ethereum can still continue to develop as infrastructure.
L2 activity remains at the core of the debate.
The same value capture issue is also evident in Ethereum's Layer 2 (L2) roadmap. Hoffman stated that L2 teams need to act flexibly and quickly while also establishing stronger connections with the broader Ethereum economy and brand. His perspective is that Ethereum's aggregation strategy helps with scaling but may leave more profits for L2 and applications.
The ETH treasury shows another side of demand.
This contrast adds a dimension to the market narrative. A native voice from Ethereum has shifted away from holding ETH personally, while some companies continue to build financial products around this asset.
Hoffman's position lies between the two: Ethereum can continue to grow, but ETH may no longer provide the re-evaluation space he once expected.