David Hoffman sells ETH, says ‘ETH is money’ thesis over

David Hoffman, co-founder of the crypto media company Bankless, sold his remaining Ether holdings last week and disclosed the decision in a post on X on May 21. He did not state the size of the position.

Hoffman wrote that ‘Ethereum got the ETH price it deserves, and I don’t see ETH being rerated as an asset, higher or lower.’ He added that ‘ETH is, to some degree, money. But not the maximally successful version that we collectively sought out to achieve.’

In the post, Hoffman described Ethereum as ‘a giver, not a taker,’ saying the protocol provides secure blockspace and tokenization capabilities without charging a markup. He argued that layer-2 networks capture most transaction fees and economic value, and that the blockchain supplies its services ‘at cost.’ Hoffman also stated he remains ‘massively bullish’ about the network’s development but expects only a ‘marginal amount’ of future network gains to be reflected in ETH’s price.

The sale drew responses from other figures in the Ethereum community. Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams called the decision the ‘end of an era.’ Former Ethereum core developer Eric Connor noted ETH’s long run of underperformance relative to the broader crypto market and pointed to selling pressure from early holders as a factor. Connor added that concentrating a portfolio in a single coin is ‘pretty silly.’

The comments relate to the ‘ETH is Money’ thesis, which holds that Ether could serve as a store of value compared with fiat due to decentralized supply rules and protocol changes intended to limit inflation. Ether reached an intraday high just under $5,000 in August and has since fallen by roughly 60% from that peak to trade around $2,000. Price action has been largely rangebound over the past five years. However, CryptoQuant CEO said Ethereum is undervalued by 60%.

Hoffman’s post frames his sale as a recognition of the current market valuation for ETH and his view that further technical progress for the Ethereum network may not produce large moves in the token price. He said he will continue to support the project while reducing his personal exposure to Ether.