DeFi Dad, posts the new work by William Mougayar on the fundamental mispricing of Ethereum. The report asserts that markets have developed Ethereum as a profit-making company. Investors will value ETF based on charges and earnings. Stating that Ethereum undervalues its role as a public good, Mougayar positions this lens in a negative way. He likens Ethereum to Internet base layers such as TCP/IP. These schemes generated huge economic revenues without direct profits. Ether behaves in the same manner. The network facilitates trillions of activity in stablecoins, payments, DeFi, and tokenized assets. According to the report, the value of ETH only captures a fraction of this value. The numbers of market cap currently are not indicative of the systemic effect of the network. This gap is identified in the post and a new valuation framework is demanded.
New Valuation Model Has Multi-Trillion Dollar Intrinsic Value
The report presents a three part valuation model. It quantifies captured value, capitalized economic flows and surplus of trust. The market caps of ETH, layer-2 networks, and DeFi protocols captured value. This group constitutes approximately $0.6-0.9 trillion in the present day. Economic flows that rely on Ethereum are capitalized and are such that they include GDP-like activity. This covers the volume of stablecoin settlements, DeFi trading, as well as tokenization transactions.
These flows are over 50 trillion every year. When a conservative multiple is applied with a valuation of 0.3-3 trillion. Trust surplus consists of: reduction of fraud, resistance to censorship and savings by intermediaries. These advantages add up to 0.15- 0.6 trillion. The hybrid model values Ethereum at a range of 2-6 trillion intrinsically. As of December 2025, ETH has a market value of close to 400 billion. It is in the report that there is a great underestimation in this disconnect.
Ethernet Systems as the World’s Trust in Financing
According to the report, Ethereum is referred to as the Global Trust Underlayer of digital finance. The network secures value. It enforces rules. It is the host of international applications and dependent on banks, fintechs, enterprises, and governments. The report compares the early Internet. TCP/IP was the driving force of world communications. It expanded to nothing into trillion dollar economic impact. The same is the case with Ethereum. Tokenization expands.
The adoption of stablecoins picks up. Assets in the real world move to the blockchain. There is an increased institutional demand around the world. The model predicts that the model valued at between 10 to 20 trillion over a period of three years to come (2035). According to McKinsey and World Bank, the growth of digital infrastructure documented historically. The report contends that Ethereum is on the same curve. The post indicates the optimism in the long run utility of ETH. The community considers the research to be a wakeup call to the way markets appreciate base layers.
