Grayscale said on Nov. 6, 2026, that Ethereum ranks first among smart contract blockchain platforms across five metrics. The company said the network’s position could make it a key part of a new financial system designed to move money and assets with fewer barriers and lower costs.

In a post on X, Grayscale identified those metrics as stablecoin volume, tokenized assets, the number of applications and developers, and the breadth of available investment products.

Grayscale compared blockchain’s potential effect on finance with the internet’s role in simplifying information exchange and transforming communication. In the company’s view, blockchains could similarly reduce friction in transfers, expand access to financial services, provide more functionality and lower costs.

Under that model, Ethereum would serve as base infrastructure for a range of financial applications. Grayscale said rebuilding the financial system would require different technologies but that blockchains such as Ethereum would form its underlying layer.

Five measures cited by Grayscale

Stablecoins: Ethereum hosts about half of all stablecoins, totaling nearly $140 billion, according to Grayscale. The company said this allows users in different countries to hold dollar-denominated funds through the blockchain.

Tokenized assets: Ethereum accounts for about 40% of the tokenized-assets market, more than twice the volume of the next-largest blockchain, Grayscale said. It named BlackRock, WisdomTree and Invesco among issuers of such products.

Applications: More than 2,000 applications run on Ethereum itself, while its layer-2 ecosystem contains roughly another 6,000, according to the company.

Developers: Grayscale said more developers work on Ethereum than on any other network.

Investment products: U.S. investors can gain exposure to Ether through exchange-traded products holding more than $13 billion in total assets, as well as CME futures with more than $3 billion in open interest, the company said.

Grayscale also said investing in Ether offers exposure to the expansion of this blockchain infrastructure.

BitMine Chairman and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee previously addressed Ethereum’s prospects at Binance Blockchain Week 2025 in Dubai. He said the ecosystem was at an inflection point that he compared with the “1971 moment,” when the United States ended the dollar’s peg to gold.

Source: Incrypted