Analysis: Ethereum Still Holds Reserve Asset Value, 36% of Supply Already Staked

Odaily News — Blockworks analyst Jake Koch-Gallup published a piece rebutting the view that Ethereum is losing its liquidity moat, arguing that although ETH's value capture capability and stablecoin market share face challenges, its reserve asset properties, Layer 2 ecosystem, and institutional adoption still constitute long-term competitive advantages.

Jake pointed out that ETH's valuation depends not only on real economic value (REV), but also includes reserve asset and collateral premiums, with its current market cap at approximately 1,100 times its REV over the past 12 months. Ethereum still accounts for roughly 65% of DeFi's total value locked and about 45% of on-chain RWA management scale. Spot ETFs and corporate treasuries collectively hold approximately 13% of ETH's supply, while another roughly 36% of the supply is in staking.

Additionally, he believes that the development of Layer 2 networks such as Base and Robinhood Chain still helps strengthen the Ethereum ecosystem, and the overall expansion of the stablecoin market may also offset the impact of declining share. However, he acknowledged that without sufficient revenue and value回流 mechanisms, relying solely on reserve asset premiums to support ETH's valuation still faces sustainability debates.