BlockBeats News, February 18th: During a recent interview with Bloomberg in Hong Kong, Consensys co-founder and CEO, and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin shared his views on the current state and future trajectory of the cryptocurrency market.Lubin remains cautiously optimistic and forward-looking. He emphasized that the digital asset economy is continuing to evolve, driven by functional utility rather than purely speculative forces.When discussing Bitcoin, Lubin believes that it should not be viewed as a traditional safe-haven asset at this stage. He described the broader crypto landscape as still akin to a "startup ecosystem," suggesting that positioning Bitcoin as a secure store of value amid current development challenges may be premature.In contrast, he highlighted the stronger functional demand for Ethereum's native cryptocurrency, ETH. Lubin argued that ETH's practicality in driving decentralized applications, smart contracts, and broader ecosystem activities gives it an advantage in real-world adoption over Bitcoin's primary narrative.Lubin emphasized Ethereum's enduring importance in the evolving financial infrastructure. He noted that institutional involvement is deepening, with major banks, exchanges, and financial networks increasingly building on Ethereum-based technology and layer-two scaling solutions. He stated that this institutional momentum indicates that even amidst market volatility, Ethereum is transitioning towards becoming the foundation of the next-generation financial layer.Overall, Lubin's remarks reflect confidence in Ethereum's long-term potential amid short-term market pressures. He portrayed the ecosystem as resilient and innovative, with tools like Ethereum and MetaMask expected to drive meaningful progress in the digital economy.