Ethereum Shifts to Institutional Settlement Hub, Says Bitwise

Ethereum is evolving beyond its traditional role centered around NFTs and decentralized finance enthusiasts.

According to a recent analysis by Bitwise Europe, the network’s base layer is increasingly becoming a major settlement platform for institutional investors, even as retail users shift their activity to other networks.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐭 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰🔎
We see Ethereum evolving from a retail toll road to a freight terminal for institutional-grade use cases. The infrastructure is in place: blobspace, validator incentives, and governance upgrades.
The challenge now? Activating demand.
This chart breaks… pic.twitter.com/t2r27FCucE
— Bitwise Europe (@Bitwise_Europe) May 28, 2025

The data indicates that Ethereum is transitioning from a retail-focused network to a hub for institutional use, with stablecoin transactions now dominating on-chain activity. With over $127 billion in stablecoins circulating on its blockchain, institutions are increasingly leveraging the network for treasury management and on-chain dollar transactions, analysts report.

Meanwhile, the DeFi boom and NFT craze that once defined Ethereum have largely migrated to layer-2 solutions. Bitwise Europe highlights that NFT activity surged during the 2021–2022 period but has since sharply declined. This drop reflects both a cooling market and a strategic shift toward layer-2 platforms, which now host most new NFT launches.

As a result, Ethereum’s mainnet has refocused primarily on core infrastructure tasks such as ETH transfers, regulated tokenized assets, and the essential systems supporting rollups and cross-chain bridges. This shift appears to be a deliberate and strategic evolution of the network.

Supporting this transition are upgrades like Pectra, which is already live, with PeerDAS and Fusaka scheduled for the near future. Analysts note that Ethereum is “no longer scaling for smaller protocols” but instead concentrating on handling billions of layer-2 transactions, tokenized treasuries, and institutional settlement flows.

This evolving role has long been anticipated by Ethereum’s developers. In early 2024, core developer Eric Conner explained that over time, the mainnet would no longer serve as the primary platform for everyday token transactions by regular users.

In related news, Bybit released its latest weekly crypto derivatives report in partnership with Block Scholes, highlighting record-breaking activity across major digital assets. The report revealed that Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new all-time high of $111,000, driving a surge in perpetual swaps open interest on Bybit.

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