Ethereum has faced a lot of criticism recently, with ETH price underperforming other altcoins. However, Ryan Berckmans, a prominent Ethereum community activist and investor, boldly claims that we are entering the “Ethereum Era” – a period that may redefine the hierarchy of blockchain technologies. Berckmans shared his observations via X, sparking a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism among the crypto community.
Berckmans argues that Ethereum’s fundamentals remain exceptionally robust despite several perceived challenges. It directly addresses common investor concerns, providing counterpoints that highlight Ethereum’s enduring strengths and potential.
“ETH’s fundamentals look great,” Berckmans says. It addresses concerns about competition from Layer 2 Bitcoin applications, regulatory hurdles from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the rise of other blockchains such as Solana.
According to him, these are misconceptions rather than real barriers: “The thing about all this adversity is that none of it is real. In fact, Ethereum is on the verge of becoming a global economic backbone and gaining lasting institutional legitimacy.”
Why Ethereum is allegedly better than its competitors
Berckmans criticizes Bitcoin’s L2 ecosystem, suggesting that in practical terms it compares poorly to the more mature and versatile Ethereum platform. “Buy ETH because Bitcoin’s L2 application ecosystem is currently shoddy and will always be significantly inferior to Ethereum in every way,” he states, emphasizing Ethereum’s superiority for developers looking for solid, tested solutions.
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On the regulatory front, despite emerging concerns that the SEC may classify ETH as a security, Berckmans remains positive about Ethereum’s stance: “Buy ETH because the SEC will likely not be successful in classifying ETH as a security. Even if this happens, the Executive Branch will ultimately fail to stop Ethereum’s development because we are very useful to America and many powerful political blocs such as Big Tech and asset manager Tradfi.”
Regarding competition from Solana, Berckmans points out that the perceived benefits in terms of scalability and application development may not be as sustainable as they appear. He suggests that Ethereum has no real competition: “Buy ETH because Solana is not as scalable as it seems; growth is not as high as it seems; has more fast L2s as competitors than you might think; has much less customer diversity and greater technological risk than it is marketed to; and overall, it is weaker and more endangered than most believe.”
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Additionally, Berckmans discusses the strategic moves of major financial players such as Visa, MasterCard, JP Morgan and Citibank that have built their own blockchains. He predicts that these institutions will eventually gravitate towards Ethereum due to its huge network and trustless, global operations.
“Buy ETH because Visa, MasterCard, JP Morgan and Citibank have actually built a shared network and are using it instead of Ethereum, and soon, with a taste of the future, they will move to Ethereum when customers and the universe of potential partners are on Ethereum,” Berckmans claims.
The cryptocurrency expert also explains the relationship between Ethereum and its Layer 2 solutions, highlighting the symbiotic vigorous in which both layers generate value, as do the railways and companies that thrive on them: “Buy ETH because value accrues to all L2 and ETH, and our applications. It’s a symbiosis.”
Overall, Ryan Berckmans’ bold predictions offer a compelling vision of Ethereum’s potential to not only address current challenges, but also emerge as a central pillar of the future of global finance. Time will tell whether this vision fully becomes a reality, but for now, the concept of the “Ethereum era” is generating significant debate and interest among investors and industry observers alike.
At the time of publication, ETH was trading at $3,031.67.
Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com
