In 2023, the early Ethereum investment institution Pan-Asian executed multiple sell-offs at an average price of $2,047. By May 2026, Bankless founder Hoffman liquidated his ETH holdings at a comparable average price of approximately $2,000. Bankless, often described as the Ethereum External Relations Department, previously amplified the narrative that ETH is Money, a sentiment that mirrored the bullish outlook on blockchain's future during the 2021 bull market. Despite this historical enthusiasm, the current market landscape reveals a stark divergence between past optimism and present reality, characterized by significant holder dissatisfaction and a loss of trust in the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin. Data compiled by Woofun AI indicates that even during Ethereum's most dominant phases, the primary driver of discontent remains the asset's price performance, raising questions about the sustainability of its value proposition.

The erosion of confidence is further compounded by leadership dynamics within the ecosystem. Vitalik Buterin, the founder and spiritual leader of Ethereum, recently expressed his intent to gradually withdraw from operations, emphasizing that the Ethereum Foundation holds only 0.16% of the total ETH supply and should not hold a position surpassing other ecosystem nodes. This stance follows the departure of 8 members from the Ethereum Foundation, reinforcing a narrative of decentralization that some interpret as abandonment. While comparisons can be drawn to other founders like Anatoly Yakovenenko of Solana, who actively engages with communities to promote concepts like Hyperliquid, or the multiple founders of Ripple who engaged in massive sell-offs of XRP, the situation in Ethereum is distinct. The abstract nature of public chain founders is not uncommon, yet the specific context of Ethereum's institutional history creates unique pressures.

The structural origins of Ethereum's current predicament trace back to its inception in 2014/15, when Vitalik first stayed with Shen Bo and subsequently received a $500,000 investment from Wanxiang, led by Xiao Feng. Unlike Bitcoin's mining model, Ethereum's funding mechanism through an ICO, followed by PoW mining and then PoS staking, brought three distinct waves of participants onto the same vehicle. This highly institutionalized system from the outset means that the Ethereum ecosystem has never possessed an equal distribution of nodes, a reality that persists today. Woofun AI notes that in such an environment, blockchain founders and foundations are compelled to assume functions unrelated to token price, acting as stabilizers against the system's chaotic entropy increase.

However, the choice to let the Ethereum Foundation become bloated, from the Infinite Garden to the Ladder Theory, has left token holders at a loss, particularly during the rsETH incident where Aave founder Stani Kulaots essentially acted as a central authority suppressing rebels.

The tension between doing too much and doing nothing highlights a misuse of dominant status. While the Solana Foundation set aside past grievances to support DeFi United, the Ethereum Foundation's usual selling pressure and Vitalik's silence created a vacuum of leadership. The decision to reduce the scale of the Ethereum Foundation is viewed by some as a strategic error; the correct approach would have been for Vitalik to become an elusive figure while entrusting the foundation to a strong institutional entity capable of acting practically for Ethereum's future. Apart from Bitcoin, all other public chains must face the reality-based metrics of ecosystem development and adoption, and in this regard, the Ethereum Foundation does not hold a special status. The community's enthusiasm for DeFi and ETH is increasingly viewed as a memory of the past rather than a pure wealth effect, as competitors like Solana show no anxiety regarding Ethereum's trajectory.

The crisis is internal, stemming from a lack of clarity regarding who is responsible for ETH's price versus who is responsible for Ethereum's direction. While Vitalik chooses to focus on privacy, he should not prevent others from taking responsibility for the coin's price. Following the launch of rsETH and Staking ETFs, projects like BitMine are rapidly building staking services, while players like Lido focus on the productive ETH narrative.

However, with ETH's price lingering around $2,000 for an extended period, the marginal effect of scaling continues to diminish, and the pressure on maintaining APR returns increases, casting a shadow on the productive narrative. Woofun AI analysis suggests that the current situation leaves the Ethereum PoS system operating in an awkward environment where neither the Ethereum Foundation nor Lido can be held responsible for price stabilization.

Drawing parallels to Chinese concept stocks, which faced similar challenges after losing exit routes on the U.S. stock market, Ethereum is now navigating a new narrative architecture. Projects are pivoting towards AI, with the dAI team bringing centralized architecture onto the chain and focusing on small model edge deployment and Agent invocation. Other initiatives include Hermes Agent, developed by a team from Nous Research, xBubble by DappOS combining AI with an intent execution framework, and OpenRouter founded by Alex Atallah. These developments demonstrate that crypto projects are not limited to on-chain activities and can adapt to global trends like AI, stablecoins, and traffic distribution.

However, the connection to Ethereum remains weak, with proposals like ERC-8183 by dAI and virtuals representing proactive adaptation rather than leadership.

The fundamental question remains: what value does a public chain bring in the AI era? As Claude repeatedly strikes at SaaS, security, and external Agent frameworks, the possibility of a major AI entity creating its own blockchain looms. Under the PoS mechanism, the cost of asset migration is sufficiently low, yet compliance costs would still subject any new entity to human legal limitations. The unfettered playground of free finance remains Ethereum's most unique value proposition. Just as Mythos severely impacted Palantir's stock, triggering an arms race among peers, the demand for global connectivity will persist in a world of rising antagonistic emotions. While Canton belongs to Wall Street, Ethereum belongs to all humanity, offering a connecting point for fragmented markets. The golden age of ETH may not return, but with 2,000 ETH representing at least 10 times the value of 200 ETH, the ecosystem stands at a new starting point requiring a clear direction. Ethereum's destiny mirrors that of Chinese concept stocks, serving as an asset of one country invested in by another's capital, exiting on a secondary market, yet remaining the best choice for new connecting points in a fragmented world.