Bankless co-founder and longtime Ethereum advocate David Hoffman has revealed that he has fully sold his personal Ether, stressing that the move was not motivated by short-term bearishness or a loss of faith in Ethereum’s technology.
“If you missed the news last week, I sold my ETH,” Hoffman wrote, noting the emotional weight of the decision after years spent building his career and community around Ethereum. “The ETH is money thesis didn’t fail… it played out.”
According to Hoffman, Ethereum’s evolution has transformed the way he evaluates the asset. While he still views Ethereum as one of the most important infrastructures in crypto, he no longer believes ETH itself is significantly undervalued relative to the network’s current economic design. In his view, Ethereum has become “a giver, not a taker” — offering low-cost security and settlement infrastructure while allowing much of the ecosystem’s value to flow toward applications and layer-2 networks built on top of it.
Hoffman also argued that fees are a key metric for valuing layer-1 blockchains, and that Ethereum didn’t hold revenue dominance long enough to spark another major repricing cycle comparable to past bull runs. He drew comparisons between Ethereum’s fee-driven momentum during the 2021 cycle and Solana’s resurgence in 2024, arguing that periods of explosive fee generation often correlate with sharp increases in token valuations.
He also reflected on the broader evolution of crypto narratives, revisiting earlier enthusiasm around DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs. He noted that mainstream engagement with crypto lasted only briefly — from late 2020 to early 2022 — and that outside that window, the industry’s image has largely been shaped by speculation, hacks, scams, and limited real-world adoption.
Hoffman highlighted the growth of stablecoins as one of Ethereum’s notable success stories, noting that stablecoin liquidity on Ethereum has reportedly surged from roughly $3 billion in 2020 to more than $160 billion today. However, he argued this growth primarily reinforces U.S. dollar dominance rather than strengthening ETH as an independent monetary asset — making Ethereum the infrastructure powering digital dollars rather than a replacement for traditional monetary systems.
Despite his decision to sell, Hoffman was clear that exiting ETH does not mean abandoning Ethereum. “I remain incredibly optimistic about the Ethereum network and its ecosystem,” he stated, explaining that he has reallocated capital toward other opportunities and currently sees limited upside for a dramatic structural repricing of ETH.
Hoffman’s remarks come during a difficult stretch for Ethereum investors. ETH remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and continues to dominate decentralized finance and smart contract activity, but has struggled to regain momentum following a prolonged correction, remaining significantly below its all-time high of $4,953.
Source: Bankless Co-Founder David Hoffman Sold His ETH, Citing Ethereum’s Shifting Value Model