A provocative claim by the host of Bankless, a crypto-focused podcast and media firm, Ryan S. Adams, has ignited head-scratching chatter on X, predicting the Ethereum (ETH) price soaring to record high of $740,000 mark. The latest speculation from Adams comes with him comparing Ethereum to oil, fueling the narrative of ‘Digital Oil’ with a projected market cap of $89 trillion for the second-largest cryptocurrency.
The ‘Digital Oil’ label to Ethereum aligns as Adams emphasizes that ETH is like oil, which can be stocked as a reserve, consumed while sharing similar scarcity and market supply. With Bitcoin popularly categorized as ‘Digital Gold,’ the epithet for Ethereum well suits otherwise.
Adam’s post on X, accompanied by a sleek infographic, has garnered significant attention, with thousands of views and a flurry of reactions within hours.
Adam’s analysis compares ETH’s potential market capitalization to a basket of global assets—oil ($85T), gold ($22T), global bonds ($141T), global GDP ($106T), and M2 money supply ($93T)—averaging $89 trillion. Dividing this by Ethereum’s circulating supply, he arrives at the eye-popping figure of $740,000 per ETH as its ‘long-term potential.’
This narrative echoes earlier 2021 speculations from Electric Capital, which projected ETH’s market cap could hit $20 trillion, though Adams’ projection dwarfs even those optimistic forecasts.
The long-time Ethereum-maxi argues that ETH’s role as a store of value—akin to traditional reserves—combined with its utility in smart contracts and decentralized finance (DeFi), positions it for unprecedented growth.
However, the claim has driven significant skepticism from the crypto community, with Ryan Connor, the Head of Research at BlockWorks, quickly pointing out a fundamental flaw: GDP is not a tradable asset, undermining the averaging methodology. A number of other critics also dismissed the $740,000 target as fanciful, noting ETH’s current price of nearly $2,760 is a far cry from breaking $4,000, let alone reaching six figures.
