Bankless co-founder David Hoffman sold his entire ETH portfolio after concluding that Ethereum's success would not fully translate into higher ETH prices. According to reports from CoinDesk, Hoffman stated that the 'ETH is money' thesis didn't fail, but rather played out - meaning it has already completed its intended purpose. His exit comes as ETH trades near a fragile support zone around $2,050 to $2,100, struggling to regain stronger resistance above $2,300 while ETF flows and on-chain demand remain mixed. In his detailed explanation, Hoffman clarified he is not bearish on ETH but wants to allocate capital elsewhere because he does not expect ETH to be 'structurally rerated' higher or lower. The sale occurred on May 21, 2025, though Hoffman did not disclose the exact value of the tranche.
Hoffman made a clear distinction between Ethereum the network and ETH the asset, arguing that while he remains 'massively bullish on Ethereum' and expects the network to perform well, only a 'marginal amount' of that success may be reflected in ETH. As reported by CoinDesk, he described Ethereum as 'a giver, not a taker' - providing secure blockspace to Layer 2s, tokenizing real-world assets, and supporting DeFi without taking much economic markup. This structural design means Ethereum can continue growing as infrastructure while ETH fails to outperform. In his comprehensive analysis, Hoffman emphasized that 'ETH is money' requires everything about Ethereum to go right' - its margin for error is far smaller than initially assumed, with the thesis hinging on creating a revolutionary financial asset that attracts even the indifferent. The framing hits particularly hard given where ETH is currently trading.
The timing of Hoffman's exit coincides with ETH trading close to a key support range after failing to build strong momentum above $2,200. According to CoinDesk reports, analysts have warned that a break below the current zone could weaken the chart further. Institutional demand remains uneven, with Ethereum ETFs not delivering the consistent inflows needed to offset weaker market confidence. The asset has struggled to regain stronger resistance above $2,300, reflecting mixed market sentiment toward ETH's value capture potential. The ETH/BTC ratio has been sliding since mid-2024, pushing the market to question where demand is going rather than just whether the technology still matters. Hoffman noted that Ethereum's strong momentum in 2021–2022 made 'ETH is money' seem inevitable, but hindsight reveals Solana's 2021 rise and rising anti-Ethereum sentiment as the first major signs that Ethereum's coordination game wasn't proceeding as planned. The honest question now is whether ETH can find a new story, as the 'ultrasound money' narrative where fee burns would make ETH deflationary hasn't fully delivered.
Hoffman emphasized he is not bearish on ETH but wants to allocate capital elsewhere because he does not expect ETH to be 'structurally rerated' higher or lower. As reported by CoinDesk, his exit carries significant weight given that Bankless helped popularize ETH as internet money for years. The move demonstrates that even some Ethereum believers now question whether ETH remains the best financial expression of Ethereum's future, particularly as L2s and applications now capture much of the activity that once supported the old fee-burn narrative. Hoffman's analysis suggests that 'ETH is money' clashes with 'Ethereum is a giver, not a taker' - Ethereum's architecture is designed to feed all resources back into the ecosystem, keeping only minimal resources needed to sustain the network. The Layer 2 issue sits underneath all of this, as a big chunk of Ethereum's activity has migrated to Layer 2 solutions, which doesn't drive the same fee pressure or demand for the base token that it once did. Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams described Hoffman's move as the 'end of an era', highlighting the emotional and strategic shift for a community that has long treated ETH as a core political and financial asset. Former Ethereum core developer Eric Connor offered a pragmatic take, suggesting Hoffman's sale isn't a wholesale indictment of ETH but rather a reflection of its performance relative to broader crypto markets over recent years.
