Wall Street giants are collectively turning to Ethereum: VanEck CEO says ETH has become the top choice for institutions, with stablecoins and EVM technology providing a dual advantage.

Jan van Eck, CEO of the trillion-dollar asset management giant VanEck, recently stated that Ethereum is becoming the preferred blockchain on Wall Street. In an interview with Fox Business, he emphasized that when Wall Street's chief technology officers choose to build on a blockchain, "they will ultimately choose Ethereum." This view is echoed by several Wall Street strategists, including BitMine Chairman Tom Lee, who referred to ETH as the "biggest macro trade of the decade." This article will deeply analyze the technical foundations that have made Ethereum favored by institutions, the ecological advantages of stablecoins, and the attractiveness of staking returns.

[Wall Street Institutions' Views Summary]

Jan van Eck, CEO of the trillion-dollar asset management company VanEck, stated in an interview on August 28: "Ethereum can be considered the 'Wall Street token'." This judgment is based on his communication experiences with numerous Wall Street CTOs—when technical personnel assess which blockchain to build on, "they ultimately choose Ethereum." Wall Street strategist and BitMine chairman Tom Lee also shares an optimistic view, having previously told DL News: "Ethereum is the biggest macro trade of this decade."

[Market Performance Validates Institutional Confidence]

These optimistic comments come at a time when confidence in Ethereum is continuing to grow in the market. Although Ethereum lagged behind most competitors earlier this year, raising doubts about its prospects (while Bitcoin and XRP set new highs, ETH has yet to break the historical high of 2021), Wall Street's acceptance of DeFi, combined with expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, has boosted trader confidence, pushing Ethereum to break its historical record last week. Analysts generally believe that the upward trend is not over: Standard Chartered's Head of Digital Asset Strategy Geoffrey Kendrick predicts that ETH will break $7,500 by the end of the year; BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicts that this cycle could reach $20,000.

Stablecoin ecosystem becomes a core advantage.

Why are these financial giants so optimistic about Ethereum? The answer lies in stablecoins. According to DefiLlama data, the stablecoin market has expanded to a scale of $280 billion, of which about $147 billion (nearly half) is based on the Ethereum network. With President Trump signing the Genius Act into law, banks are about to be allowed to issue their own stablecoins, which means the entire market scale will expand significantly. van Eck pointed out: "Because of the existence of stablecoins, every bank and financial services company must have the ability to handle stablecoins. If customers want to use stablecoins, your bank must solve this issue, otherwise customers will turn to other institutions."

[The Technical Dominance of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)]

Another major advantage of Ethereum lies in its technical standard - the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). As the infrastructure of the smart contract domain, the influence of the EVM far exceeds that of the stablecoin ecosystem, covering Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism, as well as competitive chains that maintain EVM compatibility like Polygon. Together, these constitute an ecosystem where code, capital, and developers can flow seamlessly. van Eck asserts: "The ultimate victors will be entities built on Ethereum or participants adopting the Ethereum methodology (i.e., EVM)."

[Staking Yield and Asset Tokenization Potential]

In addition to stablecoins and EVM, Ethereum also attracts Wall Street through staking yields and asset tokenization potential. Jeff Park, head of Bitwise's Alpha Strategy, pointed out that Ethereum's 3% staking yield makes it more attractive than Bitcoin, which will continue to attract institutional investors. At the same time, the asset tokenization sector holds a potential market of $19 trillion. Finally, the trend of corporate holdings reinforces this narrative: currently, 70 companies hold nearly $20 billion in ETH on their balance sheets, with acquisition speeds reaching unprecedented levels.

Conclusion

The unanimous optimism from top Wall Street institutions, combined with the expansion of the stablecoin ecosystem, the dominance of EVM technology standards, the advantages of staking yields, and the growth of corporate holdings, has collectively established Ethereum's solid position as the "Wall Street Blockchain." As traditional financial institutions accelerate their layout in the blockchain field, Ethereum, with its comprehensive advantages, is becoming a core choice for institutional crypto asset allocation. Investors should pay attention to the changes in the ETH/BTC exchange rate, the development of the Layer2 ecosystem, and the dynamics of institutional holdings, seizing the investment opportunities brought by the influx of Wall Street funds.