Ethereum still has 100 times the growth potential.

Cheers to the first decade of Ethereum.

Written by: Joe Zhou, Foresight News

Today marks the tenth year of Ethereum.

In the past decade, Ethereum has become the highest returning asset globally, perhaps without exception.

In the past decade, Nvidia's market value increased 150 times, Bitcoin's market value grew 300 times, while Ethereum's market value surged 3600 times, reaching 450 billion dollars. In just ten years, Ethereum has become one of the top thirty assets by market value globally.

In the past decade, Ethereum has become one of the safest financial systems in the world.

In the past decade, up to one trillion dollars of funds have circulated on Ethereum, with an annual trading volume of stablecoins on Ethereum alone reaching 20 trillion dollars. Besides stablecoins, there are decentralized exchanges on Ethereum (with daily trading volumes reaching up to ten billion dollars), staking systems (involving funds reaching ten billion dollars), lending protocols (several billion dollars), derivatives (with daily trading volumes of several billion dollars), NFTs, and more. Furthermore, the Ethereum mainnet itself has never experienced a single downtime, outage, or theft incident.

Looking back over the past decade, at least three revolutionary products have emerged from the Ethereum ecosystem, just like Apple launched the Mac, iPhone, AirPods, and iPad. Ethereum is also the absolute market leader among them.

Stablecoins have an annual trading volume of 28 trillion USD, with over 70% of the trading volume occurring on Ethereum; in 2016, the world's first DAO was born on Ethereum, and today more than 90% of the largest DAOs by total value locked (TVL) are in the Ethereum ecosystem; during the summer of DeFi in 2020, Ethereum was the only center, with a market share as high as 95%-99%; in 2021, NFTs broke into the mainstream for the first time, with Ethereum as the main battleground, accounting for over 90% of the annual trading volume... Meanwhile, tokenization of US stocks, tokenization of US Treasuries, RWA, and AI Agent memes are just beginning.

What about ten years later? Ethereum has already become one of the top 30 assets by market capitalization globally, surpassing renowned companies such as Meta, TSMC, Visa, and Mastercard. Is this its endpoint?

No, this may be the real starting point.

Just like when Apple's MAC computer broke 10 million users in 1987, that was not the end, but the beginning of everything.

Today, Ethereum, which has about 10 million users every month, has officially entered its next decade.

Ethereum, there is still 100 times growth potential.

1. The TVL of Ethereum has grown 100 times, yet it only accounts for 2% of the global financial asset size.

2. Even if the user base of Ethereum grows 100 times, it will only reach 1 billion. In contrast, the issuance volume of Visa and Mastercard has exceeded 3 billion.

3. Ethereum, like the Apple computers of 1987, remains a gathering place for niche enthusiasts. In 1987, Mac series computers sold over 10 million units; whereas as a global shared computer, in 2025, only about 10 million people (17 million addresses per week) are using Ethereum each month.

4. Ethereum, a financial system refined over a decade, has seen hundreds of trillions of dollars flow through it. Among them, the annual trading volume of stablecoins on Ethereum has reached 20 trillion dollars.

5. The miracle of stablecoins is expected to be continuously replicated across various "product lines" on Ethereum.

In 2016, the market value of stablecoins was 1 million dollars, reaching 1 billion dollars in 2018, and 100 billion dollars in 2021. A 1000-fold growth in two years, and a 100-fold growth in four years, the miracle of stablecoins (dollar tokenization) could also happen with the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds and U.S. stocks.

6. Ethereum is providing alternatives to all mainstream financial products. What financial companies can do, it can do; what financial companies cannot do, it can still do.

7. Ethereum is tokenizing almost all mainstream financial products.

Ethereum is working on dollar tokenization (dollar stablecoins), which is a $40 trillion market, currently reaching a scale of $300 billion; Ethereum is working on US Treasury tokenization, which is a $36 trillion market, currently reaching a scale of $7 billion; Ethereum is working on US stock tokenization, which is a $60 trillion market, and is just starting, currently reaching a scale of $500 million... all of these could suddenly explode in a few years, growing a hundredfold in a year, just like the explosion of the dollar stablecoin market.

8. As a new global financial system, Ethereum still has at least 100 times the growth potential in the financial market. The TVL of Ethereum is only 80 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the asset scale of the global financial system reaches 400 trillion dollars. Even with a 100 times growth, Ethereum would still only account for 2% of the global financial asset scale.

9. Ethereum is not a "substitute" for the global financial system; it is redefining what finance is. Just like the relationship between email and postal services. Postal services were once the primary means of communication in the world, and now the daily volume of emails exceeds the annual volume of mail sent via postal services.

10, 20 years ago, no one believed that over 90% of human information would occur on the Internet; now, few believe that in the future, 9% of human funds will circulate on Ethereum.

Ethereum, waiting for the collapse of each financial system

1. Every crisis in the global financial system is an opportunity for Ethereum.

2. Ethereum is waiting for every collapse of the mainstream financial system. And these collapses, big and small, happen almost every month, every year, and every cycle.

3. Economic crises, pandemics, wars, political turmoil, national bankruptcies, currency devaluation, geopolitical conflicts... Each major upheaval in the 195 countries around the globe corresponds to the collapse of a certain part or aspect of the entire global financial system.

4. Over the past 100 years, there have been at least 10 major financial crises globally; 8 large-scale pandemics with global impact resulting in massive deaths; more than 30 national bankruptcy events, with as many as 10 instances of currency collapse and hyperinflation-type "bankruptcy." In the past 50 years, there have been approximately 15 to 20 large-scale wars with international significance. All of these will bring changes to the financial system and create new market demands for Ethereum.

5. Ethereum is the center of "marginal finance." Approximately 10 countries have been kicked out of the mainstream financial system, while the number of marginalized countries reaches as high as 30 to 50. Their ordinary citizens need to use stable currencies, merchants require cross-border trade, and the middle class needs to buy quality stocks.

Mainstream financial systems prohibit them, Ethereum accepts them.

6. Duan Yongping repeatedly emphasizes: do the right thing and do things right. Ethereum continues to do what centralized institutions such as countries, financial institutions, and internet companies cannot do. Doing decentralized things is doing the right thing.

7. Ethereum is delivering a dimensional blow to Swift. Ethereum has become the largest value network globally outside of Swift. Ethereum significantly surpasses Swift in several important dimensions, including but not limited to: network neutrality, 24/7 availability, transaction fees, cross-border transaction speed, transparency, and the degree of automation in clearing assets. As important countries like the United States begin to embrace Ethereum in compliance and regulation, Ethereum has the opportunity to replace Swift as the largest value network in the world in 30 years.

8. There are nearly 20 countries subject to Swift sanctions and restrictions. Ethereum is permissionless, and anyone from any country can trade here.

9. Athens and Sparta, Android and Apple, Ethereum and the global financial system... they are two sides of the same coin in this world, and missing one is a flaw.

10. The success of Ethereum is highly probable. The mainstream financial system will not suddenly collapse, but will continuously deteriorate. Each deterioration is beneficial to the new financial system, beneficial to Ethereum, and may be a good opportunity for the rapid expansion of Ethereum.

Ethereum's Moat

1. Ethereum's moat. First: sufficiently neutral. In the blockchain, only it and Bitcoin are sufficiently decentralized, free from the control of any single country or organization; second: sufficiently secure. The mainnet has been running for ten years, with a market capitalization of 450 billion USD, and has never experienced large-scale downtimes, outages, or thefts; third: a unique culture. DAO governance, early user airdrop mechanisms, transparent transactions, and a strong emphasis on ZK technology and privacy protection... The Ethereum ecosystem has formed a good culture, and a good culture gives rise to good business models.

2. On July 30, 2015, the Ethereum mainnet officially went live. Over the past decade, the Ethereum mainnet has not experienced a single downtime, outage, or theft.

3. Ethereum is a public good. Air can be polluted, water can be prohibited from use, land can be requisitioned, roads can be denied access to, internet accounts can be banned... In this world, apart from the sun, moon, and a few other entities that humans cannot intervene with, there have not been any truly public goods that can be equally used by everyone, until the emergence of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

4. Ethereum does not require permission from anyone to use. Bitcoin is a currency shared by all humanity, while Ethereum is a supercomputer shared by all humanity. Anyone can deploy, run, verify, and use programs on the Ethereum network, and all of this does not rely on traditional servers or companies.

5. Ethereum is a decentralized financial system, a public good, digital oil, a supercomputer shared by all humanity, an immutable global ledger, the largest value network in the world outside of Swift, a decentralized internet, and a networked nation.

6. Ethereum is the absolute leader in the crypto world. In 2024, the annual trading volume of stablecoins will reach 28 trillion USD, with 70% of the transactions occurring within the Ethereum ecosystem; in 2021, NFTs broke into the mainstream, and Ethereum was the main battleground, with its trading volume accounting for over 90% for the whole year; in the summer of 2020, during DeFi's rise, Ethereum was the only center, with a market share as high as 95%-99%, and almost all decentralized financial activities such as lending, trading, and stablecoin protocols ran on it.

7. Ethereum is the biggest challenger to the global financial system. It provides a financial system that allows for fair and secure transactions without regulation. When a country is kicked out of the mainstream financial system, Ethereum is one of the best solutions. When a business and a merchant want to engage in normal cross-border transactions but are unable to do so for various reasons, Ethereum offers a new financial system. When an individual cannot easily trade in foreign stock markets or real estate, Ethereum provides a financial system that does not require regulation.

8. Ethereum is the source of innovation in the Crypto industry and the center of almost all large-scale blockchain applications. During the summer of DeFi in 2020, Ethereum was the only center, with a market share as high as 95%-99%, and almost all lending, trading, and stablecoin protocols operated on it; in 2021, when NFTs broke into the mainstream, Ethereum was the main battleground, with more than 90% of the total trading volume for the year; in 2025, when stablecoins broke into the mainstream, global stablecoin annual trading reached 28 trillion USD, with over 70% of the trading volume occurring on Ethereum.

9. Competition ultimately comes down to time and who makes the fewest mistakes. And Ethereum is always the one that makes the fewest mistakes.

The Ethereum mainnet has been running for ten years without any large-scale outages or downtimes. Solana launched its mainnet in 2020 and has experienced over 10 major downtime events in five years, averaging 1-3 times per year, with multiple network restarts; Sui launched its mainnet in 2023 and has experienced two outages in two years.

10. In the AI industry, there cannot be without Nvidia; in the mobile phone industry, there cannot be without Apple; in the Crypto industry, there cannot be without Ethereum.

Surpassing BTC is not impossible

1. Bitcoin is just a currency system, while Ethereum is not only a currency system but also a financial system, an internet system, and a supercomputer shared by all of humanity.

2. Those who believe that the value of Ethereum surpasses that of Bitcoin have never disappeared. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban (2021), Real Vision CEO Raoul (2023), and 1confirmation founder Nick Tomaino (May 2025) have all publicly and explicitly expressed this view at different times and places.

3. Cathie Wood is considered one of the celebrities with the most optimistic outlook on the future of Ethereum. She believes that by 2032, the price of Ethereum could reach $166,000, with a market cap of $20 trillion. Currently, the market cap of Ethereum is $440 billion, which also means that Cathie Wood believes there is nearly a 50-fold increase potential for Ethereum.

4. Ethereum is as scarce as Bitcoin. The current inflation rate of Ethereum is lower than that of major currencies such as BTC, gold, USD, and EUR.

In 2024, the inflation rate of Ethereum is -0.2% to 0.5%, BTC is 1.7% (it will drop to 0.85% after the halving in 2028, decreasing every four years), gold is 1.5% (the supply of gold increases by about 1.5% - 2% annually), Euro is 2.5%, and USD is 3.3%.

However, some currencies have absurd inflation rates: Egyptian Pound 28%, Iranian Rial 31%, Turkish Lira 58%, Argentine Peso 250%, Zimbabwean Dollar 560%.

5. As the first decade of Bitcoin arrives, it reaches 3500 USD. In the first decade of Ethereum, it reaches 3800 USD.

In the first decade of Bitcoin, its market value reached 62 billion dollars; in the first decade of Ethereum, its market value reached 460 billion dollars.

6. Ethereum once "neared the Flippening" of Bitcoin's market value. In mid-2017, Ethereum's market cap even reached 80% of Bitcoin's; in mid-May 2021, Ethereum's market cap even reached 48% of Bitcoin's market cap. Currently, Ethereum only accounts for 20% of Bitcoin's market cap.

7. Without Bitcoin, there is no necessity for the existence of the Crypto industry; without Ethereum, the Crypto industry loses its necessity for existence.

8. From August 2015 to January 2016, the price of Ethereum remained below $0.3. Today, Ethereum is valued at $3900, an increase of over 13,000 times. During this period, BTC increased by several hundred times.

9. Ethereum has unlocked two price growth engines: one is the US Ethereum spot ETF, and the other is the Ethereum strategic reserve institution. It is expected to be launched in October this year. Ethereum will also activate a third growth engine - the Ethereum spot ETF supporting staking functionality. Once opened, ETH holders participating in staking will receive an additional annual yield of about 3%.

10. In the next decade, when Ethereum becomes as popular as the internet, the number of Ethereum users will grow by 100 times, and the funds on Ethereum (TVL) will grow by 100 times.