I recently sold my ETH after giving a lot of thought to the idea that Ethereum is simply ‘digital money.’ I had to re-evaluate whether I still believed in that core concept, and ultimately decided to exit my position.
Summary
- Hoffman sold his ETH after saying the asset’s money thesis has largely played out now.
- He remains bullish on Ethereum, but says apps and L2s may capture more value directly.
- Related crypto.news coverage shows stablecoins, L2 fixes, and ETH treasuries still driving activity across Ethereum.
On May 26th, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Chris Dixon of a16z stated that Ethereum has rightfully achieved its current standing in the market, but he believes it’s unlikely to see a significant further increase in value based on fundamental changes.
Hoffman clarified that selling his Ethereum holdings doesn’t indicate he’s lost confidence in the network’s future. He still believes in Ethereum and its growth potential, but thinks not all of that success will directly translate into increased value for ETH, the cryptocurrency itself. He described the sale as a strategic decision, explaining he no longer believes Ethereum will function primarily as a currency.
Ethereum growth may not flow directly to ETH
Hoffman explains that Ethereum generates value by powering a wide range of things – from apps and networks to stablecoins, digital assets, and decentralized finance. However, because it’s open-source, much of that value actually benefits the entire Ethereum community.
He believes Ethereum can succeed as a foundational technology, even if the value of its native cryptocurrency, Ether, doesn’t increase proportionally.
— David Hoffman (@TrustlessState) May 26, 2026
He also highlighted stablecoins as a key part of this trend. Back in April, the amount of stablecoins on Ethereum hit a new high of $180 billion, meaning the network holds almost 60% of all stablecoins globally. This increased use of stablecoins boosts activity on the network and demonstrates Ethereum’s potential to improve traditional dollar-based payment systems, not just increase demand for ETH itself.
As crypto.news previously reported, Vitalik Buterin announced that the Ethereum Foundation intends to sell fewer ETH in the future. This is part of a new, streamlined long-term strategy emphasizing security, privacy, openness, and resistance to censorship.
L2 activity remains central to the debate
A similar challenge exists for Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling solutions. According to Hoffman, layer-2 developers need the flexibility to innovate quickly, but also need to remain closely connected to the core Ethereum network and its reputation. He explained that while Ethereum’s rollup approach successfully expands capacity, it could potentially result in layer-2 solutions and applications capturing a larger share of the profits.
Gnosis, Zisk, and the Ethereum Foundation recently teamed up at the EthCC conference to launch the Ethereum Economic Zone. This initiative is designed to tackle the problem of increasing fragmentation within Layer-2 networks. It currently focuses on over 20 different Layer-2s that collectively hold around $40 billion in assets, with the goal of making ETH the standard currency for transaction fees across these networks.
ETH treasuries show another side of demand
The sale by Hoffman coincides with a trend of public companies developing strategies to hold Ethereum in their company treasuries. Recently, Crypto.news reported that SharpLink was added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes, largely due to its Ethereum holdings and increasing involvement with institutional cryptocurrency investments.
This difference in opinion is what makes the story interesting to readers. While some individuals who are heavily involved in Ethereum are selling their ETH, other businesses are still creating financial services based on it.
Hoffman believes Ethereum can continue to expand, though he doesn’t anticipate the same level of price increase for its cryptocurrency, ETH, that he previously predicted.
This sale happens as Bankless is undergoing significant changes. As crypto.news reported on May 21st, the company faced criticism after laying off staff, and co-founder Ryan Sean Adams announced the end of its first chapter. Hoffman’s decision to sell his ETH is another sign of this transition.
At the time this was written, Ethereum (ETH) was trading around $2100. According to data from crypto.news, it had decreased by 1% in the last 24 hours and 2% over the past week.
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2026-05-27 08:34