Why Bitwise Strategist Juan Leon Calls Ethereum ($ETH) ‘The Comeback Kid of 2025’
2024-12-18
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Juan Leon, senior investment strategist at Bitwise Asset Management, believes Ethereum is primed for a significant resurgence in 2025. In a blog post published Dec. 17, Leon argues that Ethereum, despite being overshadowed in 2024, stands to gain tremendously from the $100 trillion market for real-world assets.
Leon says that while Bitcoin and Solana dominated headlines this year, Ethereum remained largely overlooked. He points out that Bitcoin surged on the back of spot Bitcoin ETFs and historic capital inflows, posting a 130% year-to-date return, while Solana, buoyed by retail-driven meme coin speculation, delivered a 106% gain. In comparison, he says, Ethereum’s 66% year-to-date return seemed lackluster.
However, Leon points to a pivotal shift occurring in recent weeks. According to Leon, over the past 10 days, spot Ethereum ETFs have attracted $2 billion in net inflows, a stark contrast to the $250 million recorded over the preceding four months. Leon attributes this to renewed investor confidence in Ethereum.
Leon credits Ethereum’s role as the dominant platform for tokenizing real-world assets as a driving factor behind its comeback. He believes that tokenization—the process of digitizing traditional financial assets like Treasury bills and real estate—represents a massive opportunity. By enabling faster, cheaper and more efficient transactions on blockchain networks, Leon suggests tokenization could transform global financial markets.
Leon emphasizes that this is not a distant concept but an active trend gaining momentum today. Major financial institutions such as BlackRock and UBS are already bringing tokenized real-world assets on-chain, spanning government securities, commodities, real estate and private equity. For instance, BlackRock operates a $578 million tokenized Treasury fund, and Leon predicts tokenized fund assets will triple in 2025, with Ethereum at the center of this expansion.
Leon explains Ethereum’s dominance in this space by citing its unmatched security, decentralization and track record. He argues that since launching in 2015, Ethereum has established itself as the most trusted platform for decentralized applications and smart contracts. Leon adds that Ethereum holds 81% of the market share in tokenized assets, which makes it the platform most asset managers prefer to use.
Leon describes Ethereum as a safe and reliable choice for developers and institutions due to its proven infrastructure and expansive validator network. This stability, he suggests, encourages confidence for those looking to move real-world assets onto blockchain rails.
Leon underscores the enormous size of the real-world asset market, estimated at $100 trillion globally. While he notes that shifting these assets to blockchain platforms will take time, he predicts fees generated from tokenized real-world assets could eventually surpass $100 billion annually. This amount would be more than 40 times Ethereum’s current year-to-date fees of $2.4 billion.
Leon adds that greater regulatory clarity—particularly with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that supports pro-crypto policies—could accelerate this shift. He believes favorable regulations would make Ethereum an attractive investment opportunity with substantial potential rewards.
Leon identifies tokenization as one of the primary drivers of Ethereum’s resurgence. Combined with other growing trends, such as the increasing use of stablecoins and AI agents engaging in crypto transactions, Leon sees Ethereum’s central role in tokenizing real-world assets as a major opportunity for growth in 2025.
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