As Analysts Tout an ‘ETH as New Oil’ Thesis, Solana’s Co-Founder Disagrees

Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko triggered a debate after referring to Solana as digital gold, ahead of Ethereum, which most of his opponents preferred for that description.

Yakovenko sought to replace Ethereum with Solana in an elaborate analysis posted by an Ethereum supporter who projected the possible outcome of events in the digital space that could lead to massive Ethereum adoption.

The ETH analyst cited the accelerating trend in digital asset tokenization, which led Citibank to predict that stablecoin supply could hit $3.7 trillion by 2030. That scenario could trigger a chain reaction since tokenized stocks, bonds, and real-world assets could surge between $9 trillion and $19 trillion in total supply.

The core of the thesis is that Ethereum, with its robust security and established network effects, is best positioned to become the primary settlement layer for this new tokenized financial system. In this future, stablecoins, which already account for over $100 billion in backing by U.S. Treasuries, would run predominantly on Ethereum’s “rails.”

If the stablecoin supply grows to the nearly $4 trillion forecasted by some analysts, the Ethereum network would become a systemic and indispensable part of the U.S. financial infrastructure.

The analyst estimates that ETH’s price could surge between $30,000 and $80,000 by 2030, depending on the population of tokenized assets running on the blockchain and if sovereign states start hoarding ETH to secure leverage. Digital asset tokenization could change the Ethereum narrative, turning ETH into a reserve-grade asset, not just a cryptocurrency. That is not the scenario yet, but developing events within the blockchain ecosystem point toward realizing this theory soon.