Consensys: The 'Trustware' era of Ethereum could drive ETH up to $15,800.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, the blockchain company Consensys has presented a fresh perspective on the role of Ethereum in the global economy, viewing it as essential infrastructure for the "trustware" era.

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

Although this concept is still in the speculative stage, Consensys points out that the increase in Ethereum's market share in crypto assets, stablecoins, and decentralized finance are early signs of this transformation. They predict that the demand for Ether could increase significantly in the coming years.

Jason Linehan, the Chief Strategy Officer of Consensys, shared about the "cost to corrupt" model of the network, a theoretical framework that he believes could drive ETH to reach new heights.

Trustware: The new identity of Ethereum

Although rarely discussed and measured, trust is a core factor in most economic interactions. According to Consensys, the global economy spends over $9.3 trillion annually on trust infrastructure, including insurance, legal systems, auditing, compliance, notarization, and intermediaries.

The digital age has created a new form of trust — borderless, transparent, and enforced by code, allowing strangers to transact with mathematical certainty. Consensys refers to this concept as "trustware – reliable software."

"Trustware is a new approach to showcasing the immense value that Ethereum has brought to the economy," Linehan said. "This value has been built step by step over the past 10 years thanks to the efforts of organizations like the Ethereum Foundation, Consensys, and the global community of Ethereum developers."

When traditional financial institutions recognize the effectiveness and value of this trust infrastructure, Consensys argues that the demand for Ethereum will increase, thereby promoting sustainable growth in the value of ETH.

How Trustware is Reshaping the Value Proposition of Ethereum

The cost model for corruption is a pricing framework that links the market value of ETH with the level of security needed to protect economic activities on Ethereum. This model operates on a simple assumption: the greater the value that Ethereum protects, in the form of stablecoins and other DeFi assets, the higher the cost to attack the network.

Using the "cost to corruption" model, Consensys predicts that the price of ETH will reach 4,900 USD by the end of 2025 and 15,800 USD by 2028. Linehan stated that this model assumes a value of 1 trillion USD in stablecoins, 500 billion USD in real-world assets tokenized (RWAs), and 300 billion USD total value locked (TVL) by 2028, numbers he considers conservative.

"There are reliable predictions of 2 trillion USD in stablecoins and up to 16 trillion USD in RWAs by 2028 or 2030," he said, emphasizing Ethereum's current dominance in both asset classes.

The so-called floor cost of ETH for corruption and market premium | Source: ConsensysThe report also indicates that investors in ETH are still in the early stages. Currently, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies only accounts for 0.3% of global wealth, while the volume of stablecoins only reaches 0.1% of the foreign exchange market.

As of May 31, Ethereum has secured 220 billion USD in High-Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA), according to Consensys, far surpassing Solana's 20.3 billion USD and Avalanche's 3.7 billion USD, although these networks have seen growth over the past years.

"The future will not be like the past... it will be an economy that we have never seen before, and that will open doors that we have today. Ethereum makes this possible," Linehan emphasized.

The secure and scalable architecture of Ethereum

When Ethereum celebrated its 10th anniversary, it had undergone 21 network upgrades and left behind a legacy of fundamental 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 is supported by 1,056,000 validators from 84 countries. Consensys stated that while other blockchains may attract specific fields, such as gaming and memecoins, where trustware is less important, Ethereum remains the top choice for institutional investors managing billions of USD in global capital.

"Agency finance will mean that RWAs are tokenized and all types of assets will be accessed and traded thousands of times per second, 24/7/365, by the most sophisticated algorithms we can imagine," he said.

Mr. Giáo