Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin recently made some bold predictions about Ethereum’s future, suggesting a massive price increase and a shift in the cryptocurrency landscape.
Lubin’s Bullish Outlook
Lubin believes Ethereum’s price could increase by a factor of 100. He envisions a future where major financial institutions like JPMorgan (who’ve been involved with Ethereum since 2014-2015) will heavily utilize the Ethereum network for various financial operations. This includes staking, running validators, building on layer-2 and layer-3 solutions, and developing decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. He even stated that current bullish predictions aren’t nearly optimistic enough!
Dispelling Scaling Concerns
Lubin addressed concerns about layer-2 solutions potentially harming Ethereum’s base layer. He argues that this narrative is wrong, pointing to ConsenSys’ Linea network and a new “Proof-of-Burn” initiative as examples of how layer-2 solutions can actually strengthen Ethereum’s base layer.
BETH: Tokenizing the Burn
A key part of Lubin’s vision involves BETH, a new token representing burned ETH. The Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF) introduced BETH, which is created when ETH is burned. This creates a new asset representing scarcity. Lubin suggested potential uses for BETH, including governance and signaling, and even floated fun ideas like using it to incentivize content creation. He also speculated about derivative tokens built on top of BETH, similar to early “colored coins” on Bitcoin, but with improved functionality within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Wall Street’s Embrace of Ethereum
Lubin’s predictions align with analyst Tom Lee’s views, who also sees a significant move by Wall Street towards blockchain technology, with Ethereum being a major beneficiary. Both Lubin and Lee collaborate and share strategies, though they also compete in different areas.
The Bottom Line
Lubin’s predictions are extremely bullish, but they highlight a potential future where Ethereum plays a central role in the global financial system. At the time of writing, ETH was trading around $4,399.
