How Asset Management Companies Are Dealing with the Blockchain Revolution: Ethereum Becomes the Core Battleground

Since the market correction in 2018, the entire crypto ecosystem has experienced multiple cycles, but the trend of integrating traditional finance with blockchain has never changed. For asset management firms, how to navigate this ongoing blockchain revolution has become a strategic issue. The major upgrade of Ethereum and market structure adjustments are revealing new opportunities and challenges for institutional investors.

Wall Street Consensus: USD Assets Are Accelerating onto Blockchain

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins recently stated, “In the coming years, the U.S. financial markets may significantly migrate onto blockchain,” which is not speculation but a consensus among industry elites.

The core appeal of asset tokenization is crucial for asset management companies: First, if assets are on the blockchain, ownership structures become fully transparent. Compared to traditional listed companies that struggle to accurately grasp shareholder structures, tokenized assets offer unprecedented transparency. Second, tokenization enables “T+0” real-time settlement, replacing the current “T+1” cycle, which directly improves liquidity and reduces costs for asset managers with high daily trading volumes. Third, on-chain delivery-versus-payment (DVP) and receipt-versus-payment (RVP) mechanisms greatly reduce systemic risk, whereas current settlement delays are a major source of market risk.

Wall Street has built a deep capital network: U.S. political and economic elites, treasury bond issuers, stablecoin reserve institutions, and crypto trust companies are interconnected. Stablecoins (USDT, USDC, WLD, etc.) mostly hold short-term U.S. Treasuries and bank deposits as reserves, managed by departments like Treasury, forming a complete chain of dollar credit → government bonds → stablecoins → crypto treasuries and RWA protocols → Ethereum ecosystem.

What does this mean for asset management firms? It indicates that Ethereum and its Layer 2 solutions are becoming the new infrastructure for global assets.

Ethereum’s Value Capture Dilemma and Path to Breakthrough

For a long time, asset management firms have faced a core challenge in observing Ethereum: Layer 2 scaling solutions see increasing user activity, but Layer 1 mainnet’s value capture remains relatively insufficient. The recent Fusaka upgrade directly addresses this issue.

Before the upgrade, L2 (Rollups) could almost use blob bandwidth for free. Fusaka introduces the “dynamic base fee” mechanism via EIP-7918, linking blob fees to the L1 execution layer’s base fee, requiring L2 to pay at least 1/16 of the L1 base fee for data availability, with this fee completely burned, directly benefiting ETH holders.

Understanding the evolution of Ethereum’s three major upgrades is vital for asset management firms assessing long-term investment value:

London Upgrade: Single-layer burn mechanism, ETH structural burns begin on L1.

Dencun Upgrade: Introduces a separate blob market; data writes on L2 also generate burns, but demand is low, and blob burns are near zero when activity declines.

Fusaka Upgrade: Links blobs to L1, with L2 activity directly mapping to ETH burns, making burn volume more stable.

Post-upgrade, blob fees increased over 500 times within hours, with daily burns reaching 1,527 ETH, accounting for over 98% of total burns. As the L2 ecosystem continues to expand into 2026, Ethereum is expected to re-enter a deflationary cycle, providing long-term support for asset holdings.

From the perspective of RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization), Ethereum’s TVL reaches $124 billion, accounting for 64.5% of the total crypto market cap, a figure difficult for other blockchains to match. For asset management firms participating in the RWA wave, Ethereum is indispensable.

Critical Technical Resilience Signals Asset Management Firms Must Watch

Market extreme panic periods often hide true institutional behavior. During the correction at the end of 2025, Ethereum futures leveraged positions were thoroughly liquidated, clearing out speculative components. Coinbase data shows crypto leverage has fallen to a historic low of 4%, indicating the market has been thoroughly shaken out.

The traditional “Long BTC / Short ETH” hedge portfolio was a classic institutional allocation, but since November, the ETH/BTC ratio has remained stable in a sideways, resilient pattern, invalidating the hedge logic. What does this imply? It suggests a fundamental change in institutional confidence in Ethereum.

On-chain data shows Ethereum’s exchange reserves are only 13 million ETH, about 10% of total supply, at a historic low. Market sentiment has not fully recovered, but the distribution of holdings has quietly shifted, with short squeeze conditions brewing.

The macro policy environment in 2026 favors asset management firms: the U.S. leans toward tax cuts, rate cuts, and relaxed crypto regulation; China adopts moderate easing and stabilizes financial volatility. With both policies friendly and Ethereum in a good buy zone, asset managers should carefully evaluate their allocation ratios.

Currently, ETH trades at around $2,310, up 2.15% in 24 hours, with a market cap of $279.19 billion. Technically, Ethereum has demonstrated sufficient resilience. For asset management firms, the blockchain revolution is not a future concept but an ongoing process—how to respond to this transformation is an unavoidable strategic choice.