Just last week, Wall Street strategist — and longtime Bitcoin bull — Tom Lee made waves by landing a role atop a little-known Bitcoin miner turned Ethereum treasury company.
For Jeff Park, head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise, the move signaled something different: Ethereum may be carving out a separate, fundamentally different investment thesis from Bitcoin in the public equity markets.
That difference, according to Park, starts with utility.
“Ethereum is a useful asset,” Park said in a July 8 interview on the Wolf of All Streets podcast.
“Bitcoin stores value. But Ethereum is productive — it earns yield.”
Bitcoin treasury companies like Strategy and Metaplanet have surged in popularity by raising money through convertible debt to buy and hold Bitcoin — all to watch their stock prices soar. Their appeal lies in leverage, Bitcoin’s scarcity, and a bet on Bitcoin’s adoption in the wider economy.
More than a buy-and-hold
Ethereum is different, said Park.
While Strategy-style, Bitcoin-buying firms talk about yield thanks to some clever financial engineering, Ethereum-focused firms can generate yield organically, via protocol-level participation.
Indeed, Ethereum isn’t just a buy-and-hold asset. It’s a network that generates native cash flows through staking and restaking.