Why the Bankless Co-Founder Sold All His ETH – and Why He’s Still Bullish on Ethereum

In late May 2026, David Hoffman, the co-founder of the prominent crypto media platform Bankless, sent shockwaves through the community with a startling confession: he had sold his entire Ethereum (ETH) holdings . For someone who had built a career and identity around the Ethereum ecosystem, even stating he once had 99% of his net worth in ETH, the move represented far more than a simple portfolio rebalance . It was a fundamental, public pivot in investment thesis.

The decision wasn't made on a whim or out of panic. In a detailed explanation published on May 26–27, Hoffman outlined a nuanced argument that separates the future of the Ethereum network from the investment potential of its native token. His core message is both a critique and a declaration of enduring faith: the grand narrative of ETH becoming global money hasn't failed, but it has reached its logical and fully priced-in conclusion .

The ETH is Money Thesis Has Played Out

For years, a central pillar of Ethereum's value proposition was its potential to become a global, decentralized monetary asset—a "triple-point asset" acting as currency, bond, and equity all at once . Hoffman now argues that this story has been fully realized. "The ETH is Money thesis didn't fail… it played out," he wrote, asserting that the market has already priced in everything this narrative can deliver .

This marks a pivotal shift from seeing ETH as an asset with massive future upside to viewing its current market capitalization as a fair and final reflection of its achievements. Hoffman sees no compelling logic for the market to significantly reprice the token in either direction .

Ethereum as a Giver, Not a Taker

At the heart of Hoffman's reasoning is a view of Ethereum's architecture as inherently generous. He describes the base layer as the world's most successful open-source nonprofit, providing supremely secure block space, global asset tokenization, and massive DeFi infrastructure to Layer 2s (L2s) and applications at near-cost, without markups .

This design philosophy means the network succeeds by giving value away rather than extracting it. Hoffman notes that L2s capture roughly 97% of fee profit, while applications take the remainder. The Layer 1 base layer is left running essentially at cost . As execution has shifted off-chain to L2s, the direct link between booming network activity and the L1 asset price has weakened. Simply put, the network can thrive financially while the ETH token sees minimal economic benefit.

The Closed Window for Global Money

Hoffman also suggests that the window of opportunity for ETH to become true global money has shut. Achieving that vision would have required a perfect alignment of conditions: a startup-like Ethereum Foundation, unwavering alignment of L2s, flawless execution of the technical roadmap, and sustained mainstream crypto adoption .

The rise of competitive ecosystems like Solana, Ethereum's own slower pace of adaptability, and the fleeting nature of the 2020–2021 mainstream moment all conspired to close that door . He encapsulates this by saying Ethereum would need to "win a war that its architecture refuses to fight" for ETH to become global money, and that he no longer sees that happening .

The Stark Distinction: Network vs. Token

This leads to the most crucial distinction in Hoffman's argument—one between the Ethereum network and the ETH token.

• On the Ethereum network, his outlook is unequivocally positive. He stated he is "massively bullish" on the ecosystem and expects the network to thrive as the world's most secure and decentralized settlement layer .
• On the ETH token, his view is flat. He believes the network's future success will only show up in the token's price to a marginal degree. "I don’t see ETH being rerated as an asset, higher or lower," he concluded .

This is not a declaration of an Ethereum apocalypse but a maturation of the investment thesis. Hoffman's sale was not an act of bearishness on the technology but a strategic reallocation of capital toward opportunities where he sees more direct value capture—a place ETH, by its own generous design, no longer occupies .