Ethereum could be severely undervalued and headed toward a dramatic re-pricing, according to a growing chorus of prominent industry voices.
Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams has reignited bullish debate with a bold forecast: ETH reaching a $2 trillion market cap, or roughly $17,000 per coin, nearly nine times its current price.
The premise behind this ambitious projection isn't based on speculative hype but on a potential narrative transformation - repositioning Ethereum not merely as a platform for decentralized applications, but as “digital gold with yield.”
Adams' thesis draws heavily on Ethereum’s evolving fundamentals. Post-Merge, ETH has become a yield-generating, deflationary commodity, thanks to staking rewards and the fee-burning mechanism introduced in EIP-1559. This positions it as a hybrid between Bitcoin’s store-of-value proposition and U.S. Treasuries' yield-bearing appeal.
In a recent social media post, Adams called on the Ethereum community to embrace what he dubs the “Blue-Money Gospel” - the idea that ETH should be treated not just as digital fuel for smart contracts, but as the foundational monetary layer of the decentralized economy.
“Money is belief encoded as code,” he wrote, urging users to “stake, evangelize, and shame anyone who sells.” His argument is grounded in a philosophical assertion: without ETH, there is no DeFi, and no defense of cypherpunk ideals.
This vision is increasingly gaining traction in professional investment circles. ARK Invest likened ETH staking to “digital bonds,” drawing parallels to short-term government securities - a rare endorsement in a space where Bitcoin has long dominated institutional narratives.
While Ethereum’s technology stack is robust - powering a multibillion-dollar ecosystem of DeFi protocols, NFTs, and rollups - the asset itself has struggled to gain recognition as a monetary instrument. According to Frax Finance founder Sam Kazemian, Ethereum's biggest problem isn’t technical but ideological.
“Ethereum, the tech, is the most bullish thing in crypto,” he said during a recent Bankless episode. “But ETH, the asset, needs fixing.” Kazemian argues that ETH is often treated like a growth equity with uncertain cash flows rather than a scarce, yield-bearing commodity.
Not everyone agrees with the bullish case. Bitcoin maximalists and some analysts continue to challenge ETH’s store-of-value narrative. Boyd Cohen dismissed the comparison outright, stating, “Bitcoin is absolutely scarce and Ethereum is absolutely not.”
Others, such as John Haar of Swan Bitcoin, criticized Ethereum’s monetary credentials, arguing its “yield” is too dependent on speculative activity within the ecosystem. “Yield from users doing what? ETH isn’t money,” Haar said.
Moreover, the ETH/BTC ratio, a key metric used to gauge Ethereum’s performance relative to Bitcoin, has declined by 77% from its December 2021 high - a trend some use to reinforce the view that Ethereum is slipping as a monetary asset.
Despite criticism, recent market activity shows signs of renewed investor interest. After a tough Q1 that saw Ethereum fall to $1,400 in April, the token has rebounded nearly 30%, now hovering just below $1,800. Still, broader performance metrics remain weak: ETH is down 44% year-over-year and trades at 63% below its all-time high of $4,878.
The road to $17,000 may be long and uncertain, but for proponents like Adams, the real battle is not just market-based - it’s narrative-driven. Ethereum, they argue, doesn’t just need better code. It needs a better story.