Joseph Lubin, who helped get Ethereum off the ground, is making some pretty big claims about where it’s headed. He’s never been one to shy away from bold predictions, but his latest comments are especially forward-looking. He seems convinced that the traditional financial world is on the verge of a major shift.
Wall Street’s Inevitable Move
Lubin’s main argument is that Wall Street doesn’t have a choice—it’s going to have to integrate with Ethereum’s ecosystem. He suggests that the current system, with all its separate, siloed infrastructure, is just too costly and inefficient. He name-checked JPMorgan specifically, arguing that big banks will eventually have to operate on a decentralized network.
That means getting involved in staking, running validators, and managing layer 2 and 3 networks. It also means diving into DeFi and smart contracts, something a number of institutions have already been tinkering with since around 2014. Lubin thinks that prior experience will make the transition smoother than people expect.
Dismissing Layer 2 Concerns
There’s been some talk that Layer 2 solutions might actually hurt the Ethereum mainnet. Lubin doesn’t buy it. He thinks that narrative is going to fade pretty quickly. In his view, these layers are complementary—they add capacity without taking away from the core chain’s value or security.
It’s a more optimistic take than you sometimes hear, but he’s been in the space long enough that his opinion carries weight. Whether he’s right, though, is something we’ll have to wait and see.
On Ethereum’s Value
This is where things get really ambitious. Lubin believes ETH could appreciate 100 times from where it is now. Maybe even more. He went so far as to say it will outperform Bitcoin’s monetary base.
That’s a huge statement, and honestly, it’s hard to fully picture. He talks about a future economy built on human-machine collaboration, calling ETH the strongest asset of “decentralized trust.” It’s a compelling idea, even if the scale he’s describing feels almost abstract right now.
No one really knows how fast this growth could happen, he admits. But he’s betting it will be significant enough to eclipse other commodities.
As always, it’s worth remembering this is one person’s perspective—not a recommendation. But when that person helped create Ethereum, it’s probably worth listening.
