Is Ethereum undervalued? A closer look at the bull case
A new report positions Ethereum as the digital oil of the future economy, highlighting its potential as fuel, yield, and collateral for a programmable financial system. Is ETH may be one of the most overlooked assets in crypto today?
Is Ethereum undervalued? The report The Bull Case for Ethereum: Digital Oil, Store of Value, and Global Reserve Asset for the Digital Economy thinks so. The report was produced by a new industry group called Etherealize, created to help institutional investors better understand Ethereum’s role in the evolving digital economy.
A big takeaway is how the report approaches future valuations for ETH based on Ethereum’s expanding utility across developing industries. According to Etherealize:
- Short-term potential: ~$8,000 per ETH (around a $1T market cap)
- Medium-term potential: ~$80,000 per ETH (around a $10T market cap)
- Long-term potential: Valuations comparable to global oil reserves — ETH could exceed a $85T market cap, or ~$706,000 per ETH
The three attributes the report highlights as key to these valuations are that Ethereum will (as the title implies) act like oil for a new economy — with decentralized computation consuming ETH as fuel. Ethereum’s proof-of-stake design also introduces a new form of yield-as-utility, rewarding those who secure the network. Finally, ETH serves as protocol-based, pristine collateral — a feature that becomes increasingly vital as AI-driven agents and digital transactions proliferate.
I usually stay away from reports or updates that focus on crypto asset valuations. Focusing too much on price can play into hype cycles that are ultimately counterproductive. So, nothing in this issue of Open Money should be taken as financial advice. It’s just fascinating to see how others are positioning Ethereum — as the new digital oil powering an emerging, programmable economy.
You can read the report at: ethdigitaloil.com
Valuations aside, let’s look at how Ethereum fits the Open Money framework.
Daniel McGlynn
ETH as power for a permissionless economy
ETH is more than a cryptocurrency. It is the essential resource that fuels the Ethereum ecosystem — consumed in every transaction, securing billions in tokenized assets, and serving as pristine collateral in a trustless economy. Just as oil powered industrial economies, ETH powers the digital economy.
Its properties reflect Open Money principles:
- Censorship-resistant store of value: ETH underpins stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), and decentralized finance (DeFi), offering a neutral base layer immune to external control.
- Permissionless innovation: Anyone can build, transact, or secure value on Ethereum without seeking approval from a central authority.
- Programmable value: ETH is not passive capital; it can be staked, used as collateral, burned through activity, or routed through smart contracts — embodying programmable money.
Ethereum as the global settlement layer for Open Money
Ethereum’s architecture positions it as the most credible, decentralized, and resilient infrastructure for the future of finance. It is battle-tested, with no downtime since 2015, governed by transparent code rather than corporate or state actors. This credible neutrality ensures that value can flow freely, a cornerstone of Open Money.
Over 80% of tokenized assets and 60% of stablecoins reside on Ethereum today. Institutional adoption is accelerating: BlackRock, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and others are building on Ethereum. ETH is at the center of this transformation, emerging as the neutral, programmable reserve asset of the digital age.
ETH’s monetary design: sustainable, transparent, and deflationary
ETH embodies Open Money’s call for sound, inclusive monetary systems:
- Predictable issuance: ETH’s issuance scales with network security needs, not arbitrary policy. It is capped at a theoretical 1.51% annually, but network activity often makes ETH deflationary.
- Programmatic scarcity: As demand for Ethereum’s blockspace grows, more ETH is burned than issued. This ties ETH’s supply directly to real economic use, not speculative manipulation.
- Yield with purpose: ETH staking offers native yield, directly rewarding those who secure the network without intermediaries.
These features ensure ETH remains a resilient store of value and functional asset in the Open Money economy.
Daniel McGlynn
The convergence of Ethereum and AI: the future of autonomous finance
One of the most compelling aspects of the bull case is Ethereum’s role in the coming age of autonomous agents. As AI systems increasingly participate in economic activity, they will need a programmable, neutral, and global financial substrate. Ethereum provides this, offering:
- Atomic, composable transactions for machine coordination
- Smart contract-based property rights enforceable without borders
- Native access to stablecoins, RWAs, and DeFi protocols for autonomous agents
In this machine-native economy, ETH will serve as the currency and collateral that powers AI-native commerce.
ETH is the asymmetric bet on the Open Money future
Despite its dominant role, and according to the Etherealize report, ETH is still mispriced relative to its utility and potential. ETH’s value drivers are not yet fully understood by traditional markets — often framed through outdated cash flow models instead of its true nature as a digital commodity and monetary reserve asset.
Nobody knows what the future holds, valuation-wise. What we do know is that ETH offers exposure to the growth of the onchain economy, tokenization of trillions in assets, and the rise of autonomous finance. It is a core holding for those who believe in the Open Money future: a world of programmable, permissionless, and censorship-resistant value.
Open Money Project update
The Open Money Project continues. We’ve introduced a new first section that (I believe) helps set up the structure I’ve been hinting at over the past few weeks.
I’m working on the best way to share that first section and collect your feedback — more on that soon.
Thanks again for all of your support.