Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, is back in the spotlight. Still, its price gets stuck at 10x October 2023 prices even though it has a $200 billion market cap. Peter Brandt, a highly regarded presence in financial markets since the 1970s, has sounded his oft-printed skeptical trumpet again. He called Ethereum “worthless junk.” This criticism, combined with network inefficiencies and a recent massive sell-off, has put even more distance within the Ethereum community.
Brandt first made his negative feelings known towards Ethereum back in November 2024, when he dubbed it a “totally dysfunctional utility token.” Indeed, his criticism exposes a big issue that’s been a long time coming—all the way back to Ethereum’s high gas fees and overall complexity. These issues still persist within the network, preventing a smooth future use of the network and its current usability and scalability.
The Ethereum community is sharply divided. Though many are excited about what it could do in the future, others have raised alarms over its shortfalls today. Brandt’s opinions carry a lot of influence due to his experience, and for good reason. He’s witnessed it all, from innumerable market cycles, economic crashes and the rise tech behemoths such as Apple and Nvidia.
Adding to the bearish sentiment, a crypto mega whale sold recently sold 20,000ETH on Kraken, one of the crypto exchanges owned by FTX. This massive sell-off has been an additional blow to market confidence and fed into the still pervasive price stagnation since the mega boom. The sale raised alarm that Ethereum could come under significant downward pressure in value.
Together, Brandt’s ETH criticism, network inefficiencies, and large ETH sell-offs create a difficult storm for Ethereum. It is still the dominant cryptocurrency and it still has to address these issues. This way, it will restore the confidence of the market and unlock its undiscovered long-term potential.
