“Ethereum is a natural candidate for a wealth-building investment,” The Motley Fool analysts concluded while evaluating the long-term prospects of the second-largest cryptocurrency. With a market cap of $280 billion, ETH has already proven its resilience; however, experts urge a realistic outlook on its potential to become the primary technology for everyday real-world use.

Moreover, Ethereum is beginning to lose ground in the field of real-world applications: in the payments and stablecoin segment, Solana leads with 32.6% of weekly transaction volume compared to Ethereum’s 27.8%. As experts note, “Traffic gravitates toward the cheapest solutions,” and Solana’s transaction fees are well under $0.01, making it more attractive for mass consumers.

Despite this, Ethereum maintains a commanding lead in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), with $16.6 billion on its chain due to superior liquidity and a vast developer pool. But analysts also specified that expecting a 100x return from current levels is unrealistic: such growth would require Ethereum’s market cap to exceed $28 trillion, making it a solid asset rather than a “lottery ticket.”