Is Ethereum heading towards decline in terms of income? Bankless co-founder: Someone is dismantling Ethereum.

Written by: 0xjs@Golden Finance

On September 7, 2025, Messari analyst Avg Joes pointed out that Ethereum is heading towards decline based on Ethereum network revenue indicators.

Despite ETH reaching a new high in August, Ethereum's revenue for the month was only $39.2 million. Specifically: this is a 75% decrease compared to August 2023 ($157.4 million); a 40% decrease compared to August 2024 ($64.8 million); and it is the fourth lowest monthly revenue since January 2021.

David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, replied under the Avg Joes post:

Have we forgotten what we wanted to do? We created this technology, since the emergence of nation-states with churches, monarchies, tanks, guns, and fighter jets... Finally, for the first time in history, we can create a currency that is created by the people and serves the people... Yet we judge these things as if they are merely technology platforms based on profit.

These things are cryptocurrencies and should be judged as such.

Ethereum is the fastest-growing emerging economy on Earth. The economic model of Ethereum is similar to that of early Singapore or Shenzhen, where there is complete business freedom rather than a focus on central taxation.

David Hoffman's reply seems to be heartfelt. The day before his response, on September 6th, David Hoffman personally wrote on Bankless that the Ethereum project itself is not just about the ETH asset, but is also a system that allows humanity to unite and collaborate in ways never before seen. Unfortunately, people have chosen not to support Ethereum. Many focus on dismantling Ethereum as quickly as possible—because if they can invest in stripping valuable components from Ethereum's open-source architecture, they could become incredibly wealthy.

The full text of David Hoffman is as follows:

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a silly yet interesting tweet.

The idea is that if we all coordinate around the same asset, buy it, and drive its price up indefinitely, then we can all use it as collateral to borrow money. Infinite money loophole!

I also really like the replies to this tweet. "It's called Bitcoin." "This is Bitcoin."

The subtext is that Bitcoin is the first asset owned by the people and serving the people. We can all buy it, never sell it, and then live off its returns. The reason Bitcoin can function is due to its Schelling point as an asset. Bitcoin is an asset that you will never sell. Bitcoin is not just an asset—it is the asset itself.

Clearly, the scale of this belief is limited, but it well expresses the way Bitcoin wants to be.

A similar phenomenon occurs with Ethereum, but it is more about the Ethereum project itself rather than the ETH asset. For many Ethereum users, including myself, Ethereum is not just a project that requires effort.

Ethereum is just such a project.

Ethereum is a project of human coordination. It is an open-source collection of all code with economic value. It is the superstructure for creating wealth that we can pass on to our descendants. It is a system that allows humans to unite and collaborate in ways never seen before. It is a pathway to global peace, wealth, and happiness, on a scale that has never been achieved before.

If we can get all of humanity into the same coordination layer, humanity can take a step forward.

These are grand ideas, but I wholeheartedly believe in them. The outcomes of peace, prosperity, and happiness are not a five-year plan, but a fifty-year project. They do not stem from the birth of a few excellent smart contracts, but from the second and third-order effects of 5000 excellent smart contracts.

If we can all coordinate around Ethereum as a trusted neutral financial structure for the Earth, we can accomplish more things faster.

However, just as not everyone can support Bitcoin as an asset, unfortunately, some people choose not to support Ethereum as a project.

In fact, many people seem to be focused on unbuilding Ethereum as quickly as possible (Note: David Hoffman specifically mentions Multicoin Capital, and Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani once wrote "Unbinding Ethereum") — because if they can invest in stripping valuable components from Ethereum's open-source infrastructure, they could become super wealthy.

Ethereum dismantling is a political inclination. Just as Bitcoin enthusiasts favor Austrian economics, guns, and meat, Ethereum dismantlers also share similar personality traits (we all do!). Some people are born to choose to "defect" in the prisoner's dilemma.

Do you think the Ethereum community is "self-righteous" and "actually no different from XRP supporters" depending on whether you believe Ethereum is a human project.

My assertion is: if Bitcoin is a unique snowflake because of its supply of 21 million, then Ethereum is also a unique snowflake because it represents: an endless open-source contribution project aimed at creating humanity's greatest coordination software.

What could be more noble than this?