Written by: Consensys
Compiled & Edited by: LenaXin, ChainCatcher
Every financial transaction contains an element of trust. Ethereum's digital trust enables the digitization of vast assets, capital, and financial transactions, greatly enhancing the efficiency of the global financial system, benefiting everyone from institutions to enterprises to consumers.
On July 30, Ethereum celebrates its tenth anniversary. On this occasion, Consensys released the report (Industrialization of Trust), which outlines the investment case for Ethereum and the emerging technology category of 'Trust Software.' 'Trust Software' is an infrastructure that industrializes the production of trust, allowing trust to be encoded in the form of digital goods.
Research and analysis from Consensys indicates that Ethereum has become the dominant blockchain platform, supporting over 50% of non-Bitcoin digital assets, including 60% of stablecoins, 60% of decentralized finance capital, and 80% of tokenized 'real-world assets,' such as stocks, money market funds, and bonds.
Ethereum's Breakthrough: Digital Trust and Trust Software
Trust software is an infrastructure that can upgrade the simulated concept of trust, such as notes and ledgers verified by human agents and auditors, guaranteed by human insurance companies and regulatory bodies, to an equivalent digital trust concept generated by algorithms.
For centuries, human civilization has relied on various forms of trust infrastructure, from tribal kinship to large institutions such as governments, insurance companies, audit firms, and legal systems. While these systems have facilitated cooperation and economic growth, their costs are exorbitant. It is estimated that humanity spends over $9 trillion annually on trust-related expenses, including insurance ($8 trillion), legal systems (over $1 trillion), and auditing ($290 billion). This massive expenditure highlights a fundamental issue: current trust models cannot scale effectively in the digital age. They are analog—slower, more expensive, and more fragmented than the always-online, highly automated, and rapidly evolving digital economy that relies on them.
Trust software imbues the essential qualities of trust into ordinary data through a fully algorithmic process: validity and finality. Validity ensures the consistency and correctness of data, with mathematical certainty. Finality guarantees the permanence of data, which cannot be altered without great cost.
Ethereum allows these attributes to be added to data in a scalable manner without continuous human intervention, enabling trust at near-zero marginal costs. In this way, with its powerful public network and breakthrough cryptoeconomic algorithms that generate digital trust, Ethereum significantly improves the speed, cost, security, and scale of financial transaction validation.
Investment Case
For years, investors have viewed ETH as the 'second-largest cryptocurrency.' This is true, but it is of little significance. Today, they understand that ETH represents explosive growth in stablecoins and other tokenized assets, which they see discussed daily in business channels and may even use in their daily lives.
They understand that ETH underpins the prediction markets they see online, and ETH supports the new types of tokenized stocks that Robinhood is launching. With the introduction of landmark legislative proposals like the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, this wave of innovation will only intensify. Ethereum's role as a platform driving the future global economy is increasingly recognized.
Ethereum was born for this moment from the very beginning. In terms of security, assurance, and resilience, Ethereum is top-tier. The tenth anniversary of the genesis block is also a celebration of its unparalleled achievements in digital and traditional asset technology over the past decade.
Economic Security: With over $100 billion in staked capital and over 1 million validators, Ethereum has built a robust defense capability to effectively fend off attacks.
Network Effects: Ethereum has the deepest liquidity, the most developers (twice as many as the next blockchain), and the richest application ecosystem. The EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) standard dominates smart contract development, and all major stablecoins use Ethereum as their primary platform.
Proven adaptability and continuous upgrades: Through complex upgrades, such as the Merge (transition to proof-of-stake, reducing energy consumption by 99.95%) and Dencun (reducing aggregate fees by 90%), Ethereum has demonstrated resilience and ongoing improvement in its first decade without any downtime.
Global Neutrality and Decentralization: Unlike other power-centralized blockchains, Ethereum is not controlled by a single company or entity. Its over 1 million validating nodes are spread across more than 80 countries/regions, with over 67% of nodes operating outside the United States, proving its anti-fragility and reliable neutrality.
Institutional Validation and Adoption: Global institutions such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, Visa, and Franklin Templeton have begun leveraging Ethereum for tokenized assets, payments, and private equity investments, validating its security model and reliability. The total amount of tokenized real-world assets on Ethereum has exceeded $13 billion, with a monthly growth rate of up to 6.75%.
Despite Ethereum's technological maturity and the ongoing consolidation of the digital asset infrastructure market, its economic potential remains in the early stages. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies accounts for only 0.3% of global wealth, and tokenized securities represent only a small portion of the capital markets.
However, regulations are becoming clearer, especially in the U.S., accelerating its adoption of cryptocurrencies, shifting from resistance to embracing digital assets. The integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain has created an unprecedented demand for trustless infrastructure: as AI agents begin trading at machine speeds, they will require machine trust. Ethereum is the only infrastructure prepared for an economic environment that needs algorithmic mutual trust.
For institutions, holding Ether (ETH) means owning digital economic infrastructure at a price far below its eventual value. ETH can be used to pay for network transactions and serves as a means of storing value. Unlike Bitcoin, ETH can generate cash flow through staking. Moreover, like stocks, as the Ethereum platform gains popularity, the value of ETH will also increase. It merges the attributes of commodities, currencies, and capital assets into a unique and highly attractive asset.
As noted in the Trustware report, ETH serves as economic bandwidth, securing the anticipated issuance and trading of assets on the platform in the coming years, driving its value to strong growth.
The trust machine is built.
The trust machine is built. It operates continuously, self-improving, creating more value, and attracting more users. The question is not whether to believe in Ethereum, but whether to believe in the digitization of trust. If you do, the rationale for owning a part of the foundational layer of the future global economy is clear.
