Ethereum Isn’t Dead: Why TradFi Keeps Betting On An ETH Surge
Despite Ether's price decline, institutional adoption remains strong as Ethereum dominates TVL and focuses on base layer scalability.Summary
Despite Ether (ETH) declining 36% in 2026 and underperforming the broader crypto market, its fundamentals remain resilient, with development focused on base layer scalability, privacy, and quantum resistance.
While decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes and DApp revenue have contracted significantly since August 2025, Ethereum maintains dominance in Total Value Locked (TVL), holding 57% alone and 65% when including layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum and Polygon. Major traditional finance (TradFi) institutions, including JP Morgan Asset Management and BlackRock, continue to launch onchain projects using Ethereum, which commands a 68% market share in Real World Assets (RWA).
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is shifting focus toward base layer scalability, proposing changes like parallel block verification and implementing a zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (ZK-EVM) to reduce reliance on rollups. Furthermore, the network has a roadmap for quantum resistance. Experts suggest that Ethereum's established decentralization and trust give it a significant first-mover advantage to capture future institutional demand.
(Source：Cointelegraph)