This Crypto Cycle Skipped ETH

Dear Bankless Nation,

About two years ago, Ryan and I had a call with Chris Burniske, shortly after recording a podcast episode with him. 

Chris has always been something of a mentor to both myself and Ryan in crypto, as we both came into crypto in pursuit of trying to understand, categorize, define, and model this inherently unknown industry. 

He said something in that call that both RSA and I did not want to hear: “This cycle just might skip over ETH.”

Ultimately, that is what came to pass. Ignoring debates about cycle dynamics and timing, the last few years of onchain action have mostly ignored Ethereum, and ETH’s price has reflected this. 

I think this must be how Bitcoiners felt during 2021. BTC did well in the NFT mania – it got buy-in from institutions as a hedge against debasement and government fiscal mismanagement. But when it came to what retail enjoyed, and where the onchain activity was, Bitcoin was cast aside as a boomer coin. 

You couldn’t do anything on Bitcoin, and all the action was on Ethereum. Ethereum was the star of the show last cycle. 

This most recent era in crypto echoes this same pattern, except it’s Ethereum that's been ignored, and Solana that hosted all of the action. Bitcoin, notably, also had a big resurgence in cultural relevancy and adoption. 

And while there have been some much-needed fixes in Ethereum, overall sentiment has never truly re-entered a happy place – perhaps only reaching an absence of despair. The DATs gave ETH one big win this cycle, even if we are now dealing with the hangover. 

But, all of this to say… it seems that the cycle that skipped ETH… is over. 

Despite all its loss in market share and momentum… ETH is still the #1 smart contract chain, by a lot. Nothing has ever come close to changing that. And, unlike all other smart contract chains, only Ethereum has a genesis story that is comparable to Bitcoin's – the immaculate ICO, the messy beginnings, and the complete lack of corporatism of the Ethereum foundation. 

Ethereum has what no chain could ever replicate – and in a crowded ocean of high-performance smart contract chains… there will only ever be one Ethereum. 

And, to set things up for 2026, Larry Fink's economist article about Tokenization paves the way for Ethereum to have the same cultural resurgence that Bitcoin had, after the cycle that skipped Bitcoin was over. 

I'm still cautiously optimistic… and there are a lot of stars that could align for ETH in 2026. Let's see how it plays out.