Ethereum (ETH) is expected to experience a resurgence in 2025 as it capitalizes on the $100 trillion opportunity of tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs), according to a letter shared with investors by Bitwise’s senior investment strategist, Juan Leon. The crypto market has been marked by two narratives this year: Bitcoin’s (BTC) new all-time high, driven by spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) approval in the US, and Solana’s (SOL) meteoric popularity as retail investors piled into memecoin speculation.
Ethereum’s 66% year-to-date return paled in comparison to BTC’s 130% gain and SOL’s 106% rally. Recent signs suggest a reversal of sentiment, with Ethereum ETFs attracting $2 billion in net inflows over the past 10 days, eight times the $250 million net inflows recorded in the preceding four months.
On Dec. 5, data from Farside Investors pointed out that the spot Ethereum ETFs traded in the US registered $428.5 million in inflows, a new daily record propelled by $292.7 million directed at BlackRock’s ETHA. The tokenization of real-world assets might be the fuel for Ethereum’s resurgence. This process involves digitizing traditional assets such as Treasury bills, real estate, and commodities into blockchain-based tokens, offering faster, cheaper, and more efficient trading and settlement.
Major players like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and UBS have adopted blockchain technology to tokenize RWAs. Ethereum holds 81% of the RWA market, and Leon estimates that fees generated from RWA-linked activity on Ethereum could ultimately surpass $100 billion annually, more than 40 times the network’s $2.4 billion in fees year-to-date.
The letter attributes Ethereum’s dominance to its status as the most reliable and decentralized smart contract platform, secured by its long history of supporting decentralized applications and its vast distributed validator network. As the world’s largest asset managers explore tokenized assets, Ethereum remains the “battle-tested” standard.
Furthermore, regulatory tailwinds could accelerate this transformation, setting Ethereum for potentially explosive growth. The letter noted that an increasingly pro-crypto U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may provide much-needed clarity, removing barriers to adoption and institutional participation.
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