Joseph Chalom, former Head of Digital Assets Strategy at BlackRock and current CEO of SharpLink, says major financial institutions are quietly making large bets on Ethereum as the global infrastructure for asset tokenization, even as price action remains subdued.

He highlights three key drivers that could push Ethereum activity up tenfold this year. First, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink views Ethereum as the “toll road” for tokenized assets. Second, more than 65% of all stablecoins and tokenized assets currently reside on Ethereum — roughly ten times more than on Solana. Third, high-value projects continue to favor Ethereum’s decade-long track record of security and deep liquidity over faster and cheaper alternative blockchains.

According to Chalom, recent crypto price stagnation largely reflects early “OG” whales exiting positions while speculative capital rotates into commodities. Some long-term holders are selling bitcoin and ether amid emerging concerns about future quantum computing risks. The shift in speculative flows has been so aggressive that silver is now trading with volatility comparable to a memecoin. Historical patterns suggest markets typically need three to four months to flush out leverage — a cycle believed to have started in October.

Looking ahead, artificial intelligence and “task-specific agents” are expected to help transform Ethereum into a self-operating machine economy. The new ERC-8004 standard enables trustless, automated wallet activity, allowing portfolios to rebalance and stake assets without intermediaries. The Ethereum Foundation has also established a dedicated team to position the network as a long-term, quantum-resistant decentralized infrastructure. Future wallets could function as “digital twins,” autonomously managing yield strategies and risk preferences on behalf of users.