Wall Street bigwigs have recently become a bit restless.
The growth story of traditional finance has long been tired; the AI sector is overcrowded, and even the valuations of software companies have plummeted to bargain prices—The median enterprise value/revenue (EV/Rev) multiple has dropped below 2 times, making it harder than ever to find a decent growth target. Once revered FAANG stocks are now just 'honest' stocks pursuing 15% annual returns, where is the passion of yesteryear?
At this moment, cryptocurrencies suddenly returned to the spotlight.
Cryptocurrency: Wall Street's new lifeline
Bitcoin has surged past its historical high in one go, and even the U.S. president stood up for it at a press conference. With a shift in regulatory winds, the entire industry has finally shaken off the gloom since 2021 and has once again become the darling of the capital circles.
But this time it's different.
There is no crazy NFT hype, nor the farce of Dogecoin. Wall Street is focused on real things: the safe-haven properties of digital gold, the payment potential of stablecoins, the revolution of asset 'tokenization', and the reconstruction of the entire payment system.
Stripe and Robinhood directly declare, 'Cryptocurrency is the core of the next phase of growth,' Coinbase has made a splash by entering the S&P 500, and Circle has proven with tangible performance that the growth story of cryptocurrencies is exciting enough to make growth stocks ignore profit multiples again—Isn't this exactly the script Wall Street loves?
Ethereum: An undervalued growth stock?
In the eyes of seasoned crypto veterans, the landscape of smart contract platforms has become a chaotic mess. Solana, Hyperliquid, and a bunch of newly emerged high-performance public chains and rollups all want to steal Ethereum's thunder. Everyone knows that Ethereum's leading position is already precarious, and it hasn't even resolved the issue of value accumulation; calling it a 'cursed coin' is not an exaggeration.
But how would Wall Street understand this?
In the eyes of those suited investors, Ethereum is an 'old hand' that has weathered storms alongside Bitcoin, and it is the only cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin with a liquid ETF. They don't need to know what Solana is—after all, in their eyes, XRP, Litecoin, and even Dogecoin might have a bigger reputation than SOL.
With a little homework, they will find that compliant platforms like Coinbase and Kraken are firmly on Ethereum's side, and even Robinhood has announced plans to 'do things on Ethereum'; the largest stablecoin pool on-chain is also based on Ethereum. Looking at the price—Bitcoin has reached new highs, while Ethereum is still over 30% lower than its 2021 peak.
What does Wall Street see as 'poor performance'? Clearly it's an 'opportunity to pick up bargains'! They love assets that are not highly priced and have clear goals, much better than chasing those new highs that make people anxious.
New buyers have quietly entered the market
Since March, funds for Ethereum spot ETFs have been pouring in like a dam burst. Even the imitation of 'MicroStrategy buying Bitcoin' has arrived—some have begun to heavily invest in Ethereum, adding structural leverage to the market early on.
Perhaps even some old crypto players have come to their senses: in the past two years, focusing solely on Bitcoin and Solana, have they overlooked Ethereum? Shifting some positions from these targets might not be impossible.
Of course, this doesn't mean that Ethereum's technical challenges have suddenly been resolved. It's just that the current situation is becoming increasingly clear: the price trend of the Ethereum token may be 'decoupling' from the development of the Ethereum network itself.
Conclusion: An undervalued comeback?
When Wall Street's money starts flowing into Ethereum, those who think it 'only drops and doesn't rise' will likely have their preconceived notions shattered. The shorts might soon be liquidated by a sudden surge.
When the funds from the crypto circle can't help but join the speculative craze, Ethereum's new high might not be that far away.
This time, will Wall Street's calculations be right?