David Hoffman, the co-founder of the popular crypto media platform Bankless and one of Ethereum’s most vocal historical champions, has sent shockwaves through the digital asset community by revealing that he has completely liquidated his personal ETH holdings.
In a detailed explanatory essay published on May 26, 2026, Hoffman framed the liquidation strictly as a pragmatic capital allocation decision. He argued that the foundational “ETH is money” narrative, which he famously helped pioneer in 2019 to position Ether as a global store of value and pension-grade asset, has largely run its course and fully priced into the market.
Importantly, Hoffman clarified that the portfolio exit is not a bearish indictment of the underlying blockchain technology. Rather, he remains highly optimistic about the future of the Ethereum network, but believes that structural economics will prevent that prosperity from translating into further aggressive price appreciation for the native token.
The “Giver, Not a Taker” Dilemma and L2 Fragmentation
The core of Hoffman’s structural reassessment centers on where economic value accumulates within a modern, modular blockchain stack. When Ethereum handled the vast majority of transactions directly on its primary Layer 1 layer, the token captured immense value through localized gas fees. However, Ethereum’s architectural pivot toward Layer 2 (L2) scaling solutions has fundamentally disrupted that value-capture mechanism.
According to Hoffman, Ethereum’s open-source ethos makes it a “giver, not a taker.” The base layer is engineered to return maximum economic utility to the broader ecosystem, keeping only the bare minimum needed to secure the ledger. As a result, commercial profit margins and transactional velocity are increasingly captured by applications, individual rollups, and scaling networks rather than pooling back into the underlying L1 asset.
Furthermore, Hoffman highlighted that establishing ETH as a legitimate, sovereign currency requires solving massive, multilayered social coordination hurdles. While Bitcoin has deliberately streamlined its protocol to focus solely on reinforcing BTC’s monetary attributes, Ethereum’s constantly expanding capabilities and technological complexity make achieving a unified “currency consensus” a far more daunting uphill battle.
Institutional Contrast and a Broader Structural Shift
Hoffman’s total portfolio divestment comes at a fascinating inflection point for both Bankless and the broader market. Just days prior on May 21, Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams announced that the media brand’s original “first era” had officially concluded amid organizational restructuring and staff cuts. Adams, however, maintained a starkly contrasting view to his partner, stating publicly that he remains highly bullish on holding the asset long-term.
This divergence of opinion mirrors a broader split between crypto-native veterans and incoming TradFi institutions. While Hoffman is moving capital away from the token due to changing on-chain mechanics, corporate treasury interest remains active. Publicly traded companies like SharpLink continue to integrate Ethereum-linked treasury strategies into their balance sheets, landing inclusions in major equity benchmarks like the Russell 2000 and 3000 indexes.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum was trading near the $2,100 mark, posting a minor 1% decline over a 24-hour window as the market processes the exit of one of its most prominent ideological leaders.
