Ethereum (ETH) price prediction: The arrival of the "trusted software" era may drive ETH up to $158,000.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Ethereum, the blockchain company Consensys has re-examined the role of Ethereum in the global economy, viewing it as an important infrastructure of the "trusted software" era.

According to Consensys, Ethereum is not just a smart contract platform, but is evolving into a fundamental layer of verifiable and programmable trust in financial systems and many other fields.

Although this concept is still in the speculative stage, Consensys points out that Ethereum's market share in the tokenized assets, stablecoins, and decentralized finance sectors is steadily increasing, which is an early sign of this transformation. They predict that the demand for Ether may grow significantly in the coming years.

Consensys Chief Strategy Officer Jason Linehan shared the network's "corruption cost" model, which he believes is a theoretical framework that can drive ETH to new heights.

Trustware: A New Identity for Ethereum

Although rarely discussed and measured, trust is a core element of most economic interactions. According to data from Consensys, global spending on trust infrastructure exceeds $9.3 trillion annually, including insurance, legal systems, audits, compliance, notarization, and intermediaries.

The digital age has created a new form of trust - borderless, transparent, and enforced by code, allowing transactions between strangers with mathematical certainty. Consensys refers to this concept as "Trustworthy Software."

Linehan stated: "Trustware is a new way to showcase the tremendous value that Ethereum brings to the economy. Over the past 10 years, this value has gradually been established through the efforts of organizations such as the Ethereum Foundation, Consensys, and the global Ethereum developer community."

Consensys believes that as traditional financial institutions recognize the efficiency and value of this trust infrastructure, the demand for Ethereum will increase, thereby driving the sustainable growth of ETH value.

How Trustware is Reshaping the Value Proposition of Ethereum

The corruption cost model is a pricing framework that links the market value of ETH to the level of security required to protect Ethereum's economic activities. The model is based on a simple assumption: the higher the value protected by Ethereum in the form of stablecoins and other DeFi assets, the higher the cost of attacking the network.

Consensys uses a "corruption cost" model to predict that by the end of 2025, the price of ETH will reach $4,900, and by 2028 it will reach $15,800. Linehan stated that the model assumes the value of stablecoins will reach $1 trillion by 2028, tokenized real-world assets (RWA) will reach $500 billion, and total value locked (TVL) will reach $300 billion, which he believes are conservative figures.

He stated, "Reliable predictions indicate that by 2028 or 2030, the market value of stablecoins will reach 2 trillion dollars, and the market value of risk-weighted assets will reach 16 trillion dollars." He emphasized Ethereum's current dominance in these two asset classes.

(Source: Consensys)

The era of "trusted software" for Ethereum could drive ETH up to $158,000

The report also pointed out that ETH investors are still in the early stages, with the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies accounting for only 0.3% of global wealth, and the trading volume of stablecoins reaching only 0.1% of the foreign exchange market.

According to data from Consensys, as of May 31, Ethereum has acquired $220 billion in high-quality liquid assets (HQLA). Despite the network's continuous growth over the years, this amount far exceeds that of Solana at $20.3 billion and Avalanche at $3.7 billion.

"The future will be different from the past... It will be an economy unlike anything we have ever seen, and it will open the doors to what we have today. Ethereum makes all of this possible," Ryan emphasized.

Ethereum's Security and Scalable Architecture

On the occasion of Ethereum's 10th anniversary, it has undergone 21 network upgrades and has left behind a series of foundational innovations, including smart contracts, NFTs, tokens, DeFi, DAOs, Oracles, Rollups, stablecoins, proof of stake, and RWAs—all of which were pioneered on its platform.

The architecture of Ethereum has the support of 1,056,000 validators from 84 countries. Consensys states that while other Blockchains may be attractive for certain specific areas (such as gaming and meme coins) where trust software is not as crucial, for institutional investors managing billions of dollars in global capital, Ethereum remains the preferred choice.

He said: "Agent financing means that tokenized risk-weighted assets and all other asset classes will be accessed and traded through the most complex algorithms we can imagine, thousands of times per second, around the clock."