David Hoffman, co-founder of the educational platform Bankless, has reduced his position in Ethereum and stated that he no longer expects a significant structural revaluation of the asset.
I spent the weekend putting my thoughts about $ETH and Ethereum into this article
I built my career, community, and business on Ethereum, so the decision to sell deserves a deeper explanation
I hope this is sufficient
Thank you, all https://t.co/cPCbMcz8EY
— David Hoffman (@TrustlessState) May 26, 2026
Hoffman emphasized that his view of Ethereum as a network remains positive, but his investment thesis has changed. He believes the concept of "ETH as money" has not failed but has rather been fully realized. According to him, the market has assigned the asset "the price it deserves."
Ethereum "Gives" Value to the Ecosystem
Hoffman is confident that the project will continue to evolve as infrastructure, but only a small portion of this growth will reflect in the native token's price. The reason lies in the network's architecture: Ethereum redistributes economic value in favor of decentralized applications, L2 solutions, and other projects.
He described Ethereum as "giving rather than taking." The network provides security and DeFi tools almost at cost, without accumulating a significant share of the created value in the asset. Hoffman considers the volume of generated fees a key factor in evaluating L1 blockchains.
In his view, Ethereum has not maintained its revenue leadership among layer-one networks long enough to trigger a new wave of capitalization growth. He cited the direct correlation between fee income and token price, referencing Ethereum's performance in 2021, Solana in 2024, and NEAR in 2026.
Dominance of Stablecoins and "Dollar Hegemony"
Hoffman also reassessed his view on DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs as the foundation of a fully autonomous financial system.
He noted that the period of positive perception of the crypto industry was brief (late 2020 to early 2022). Outside of this timeframe, the public image of the sector has been shaped by hacks, speculation, and low practical value for the average user.
The author paid particular attention to stablecoins. He believes Ethereum effectively scales recognized forms of money—primarily dollar tokens. The volume of stablecoins in the network grew from $3 billion in 2020 to over $160 billion. However, this success likely reinforces "dollar hegemony" rather than the position of the second-largest cryptocurrency as an independent monetary asset.
Selling the Asset Does Not Mean Abandoning the Network
Hoffman specifically pointed out that taking profits in Ethereum does not indicate a bearish outlook on the ecosystem.
"I remain incredibly optimistic about the Ethereum network and its ecosystem," he concluded.
The Bankless co-founder explained that he has redistributed capital into other market opportunities. At this time, he does not see any indications for a significant change in the valuation of the leading altcoin in either direction.
Recall that in May, macro analyst Jordi Visser increased his position in Ethereum, calling the asset "fuel" for AI agents.