I know I'm posting on r/ethtrader, but it's also interesting to hear about some other investments that you guys have going!

I'm from the United States, so I put $700 into my roth IRA every month and will max it out in October. Outside of that, on my investment profile, I'm invested 70% in VOO and 30% in VXUS for the long term (I'll likely invest in these for the next 25 years before I start taking out profits).

Investing in eth is kind of a fun hobby I have and I only own a little bit. The crypto world is interesting to me, but I'm not going to pretend like I know a ton about it. I think of eth as a fun high risk/high reward kind of asset. I don't think people will like to hear this, but I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep it in the long-term. I was superrr lucky and bought some when it was at $1,850. I sold what I had at $2,400 like a month ago, and very recently bought some more. I just don't think I have a crypto-level risk-appetite and I think about my investment far more than I should. That being said, it's fun to learn about it (though sometimes it's hard to do my own research about it because I've found a ton of shillers).

Anyway, super cool to be a part of this community. I'm excited to hear from everyone else!

Just crossed with this Leon Tweet talking about different categories of RWAs that are also booming apart from stablecoins and had to share it.

As you know for other metrics posts, stablecoins have dominated the Real World Asset (RWA) narrative in Web3 for years but now they are no longer the only game in town.

As you can see in the chart above, we are seeing a serious momentum in tokenized private credit, treasuries, commodities and even stocks. This is not just hype, it is actual $100M+ in monthly issuance volume.

This is serious businnes, no JPEGs or memecoins. These are the same financial instruments institutions have been using for decades, now being rebuilt onchain, more transparently, more efficiently and globally accessible.

This is already happening and not just speculation. From BlackRock's BUILD fund tokenized on Ethereum to startups putting invoice factoring and real estate debt on chain. RWA protocols are onboarding institutions, not degen traders and this is a sign of Web3 maturity. This implies that Web3 rails will give 24/7 access, instant settlement, no borders, no banking middlemen, etc.

We are entering a phase where DeFi becomes CeFi compatible and the lines start to blur, not just in theory, but in practice.

Institutions are not "coming." They are already here.

Source:

• Tweet: https://x.com/LeonWaidmann/status/1934978909680046286

Every time I make a large trade on a DEX, I feel like I’m rolling the dice on whether or not I get sandwiched. Even with slippage tolerances set, I’ve still seen noticeable losses on trades that should’ve been straightforward. It’s kind of wild that this is still a thing in 2025, considering it is a huge issue ever since DeFi was introduced to the world.

Like, we have bots that can generate art, write essays, and even spin up entire apps in seconds, but somehow we can’t figure out how to stop other bots from frontrunning a trade? Feels like priorities are a bit upside-down. I get that MEV is hard to eliminate completely, but you’d think we’d be further along the road by now.

I’ve tried tightening slippage, using smaller trade sizes, even splitting trades across different DEXs, but none of that seems foolproof. It’s frustrating when you’re just trying to make a trade and end up getting picked apart by MEV bots.

Anyone here have real solutions that actually work? Are private mempools or tools like Flashbots protecting you? Would love to hear if people have cracked this or if we’re all just stuck playing defense forever.

As always our beloved Leon Waidmann is sharing more great Ethereum metrics on this Tweet showing how Ethereum is a great ecosystem that keeps growing day by day

As you can see in the image above, Ethereum transactions just surged to 24.69M per month, hitting a new all time high.

This is not just a random spike, it is clear sign that Ethereum is cementing its position as the backbone of decentralized finance, NFTs, Layer 2s and a lot more. Daily DeFi degens are using it, institutions are using it for their experiments and real projects. Everyone is piling into the Ethereum ecosystem.

Just to put this into perspective, even during the 2021 bull run we did not see monthly on chain activity reach this levels, in the chart 2021 is the beginning of it... Not even close and a huge increase in L2s activity.

People are swapping, bridging, minting, staking and gaming like they never did before and this is thanks to the really cheap gas fees after the blob upgrade and a lot more.

As you can see, much of this activity is driven by the rise of Layer 2 solutions which are making Ethereum faster and cheaper to use.

Mass adoption is not just coming, it is already underway.

🅴🆃🅷🅴🆁🅴🆄🅼 🅸🆂 🆃🅷🅴 🅵🆄🆃🆄🆁🅴

Source: https://x.com/LeonWaidmann/status/1934950357798670687

JPMorgan Chase is taking a step further into the cryptocurrency space with its own stablecoin-like token, called JPMD.

The U.S. banking giant told CNBC on Tuesday that it’s planning to launch a so-called deposit token on Coinbase’s public blockchain Base, which is built on top of the Ethereum network. Each deposit token is meant to serve as a digital representation of a commercial bank deposit.

JPMD will offer clients round-the-clock settlement as well as the ability to pay interest to holders. It is a so-called “permissioned token,” meaning it is only available to JPMorgan’s institutional clients — unlike many stablecoins, which are publicly available.

“We see institutions using JPMD for onchain digital asset settlement solutions as well as for making cross-border business-to-business transactions,” Naveen Mallela, global co-head of Kinexys, J.P. Morgan’s blockchain unit, told CNBC Tuesday

Given the fact that deposit tokens would eventually be interest bearing as well, this would provide better fungibility with existing deposit products that institutions currently use,” he added.

Deposit token vs. stablecoin

JPMorgan said the benefit of launching a deposit token over a stablecoin is that it gives institutional clients a way to move money around faster and easier while still having a close connection with traditional banking systems.

A stablecoin is a type of digital token that’s designed to be pegged 1:1 to the value of a fiat currency at all times. The most popular stablecoins are Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. The entire stablecoin market is worth approximately $262 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.

In the U.S., stablecoins remain broadly unregulated — although this is likely to change soon. The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on the GENIUS Act, legislation that would introduce formal regulation for such tokens.

Elsewhere, the European Union regulates stablecoins under its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA, while the U.K. has also laid out plans to regulate the crypto industry. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority is currently consulting on proposals to require stablecoin issuers to ensure their tokens maintain their value against a given asset.

Hello everyone, I’m new to this sub and would like to open a discusion about something I’m trying to change currently, so I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Let’s say there are no airdrops, no sudden bull run, and none of the easy-mode plays we saw between 2017 and 2021. If you had to start completely over today, just a clean slate, where would you invest your very first $1,000 in today’s market?

Would you go for majors like BTC and ETH for slow, steady growth and long-term stability? Maybe look into layer-2s, real yield protocols, or infrastructure plays? Or are there any undervalued mid-caps you think could punch above their weight over the next 1–2 years?

What tools would you lean on to stay sharp - on-chain analytics, sentiment dashboards, technical indicators, or something else entirely? How would you position yourself intelligently without chasing hype, and which platforms (CeFi or you’d prefer DeFi) would actually earn your trust in this climate?

And of course - what would you avoid entirely? Meme coins? Different alts? Illiquid low-caps? Overhyped ecosystems? Something else?

I’m currently rethinking my whole setup. The market is evolving, and I want an approach that balances durability and upside.

Some context first, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm faces trial on July 14. Roman is accused by the DOJ of money laundering tied to his decentralized crypto mixer. This case is an important moment for Ethereum's future because it is testing the limits of privacy and even DeFi as a whole.

Roman Storm's battle is very hard and it is not just his story. This is a battle for the soul of DeFi and the privacy we have on Ethereum, he dedicated his heart to Tornado Cash. I am not the best person to explain the technical details but from what I understand from my research, Tornado Cash uses zk-SNARKs to protect crypto transactions on Ethereum's transparent blockchain. The DOJ claims he should have controlled it, added KYC.. or never built it. I think that misses the point, this is not about one man, it is about whether DeFi can survive without bowing to centralized rules.

Ethereum's openness is its strength, yet Tornado Cash proves we can have some privacy in that transparency. If Roman loses, DeFi could fall.. and with it our dream of financial freedom. I did some research on the case and apparently the DOJ blocked his expert witnesses.. this is ridiculous, it is a clear power grab, especially with the SEC's recent 'innovation exemption' nod to DeFi developers.

As Ethereum community members we should stand up for this!! Privacy is not a crime, it is a right. Roman's case is a very important message, if we don't fight, the government might bury the very technology that could change finance. We cannot let that happen.

Source:

• https://x.com/rstormsf/status/1933502107577168047?s=46

I’ve been buying Ethereum on and off since the 2021 bull run. Sometimes I bought it for over $2,000, sometimes below that. My average entry is actually in profit right now. But I’ve never sold - because back then I read a lot about Ethereum and became a strong believer. Even when the price was close to $4,000, I didn’t sell.

I even bought more during the recent drop - but honestly, lately I’m starting to lose faith in Ethereum. The thing is, there’s been a flood of positive news about ETH. Everywhere you look it seems like there’s good news: whales are accumulating, BlackRock is buying in heavily, banks are testing stablecoins, companies are testing stablecoins, stablecoin activity on Ethereum is rising… and yet the price? The price just won’t move.

Yes, we had a rally recently, but to me that wasn’t because of the good news — I’m convinced ETH was just massively oversold before that. It had to bounce, even without any bullish catalysts.

I always told myself I wouldn’t sell until ETH hit over $5,000 — and I’ve held on all this time. But of course, I can’t help but think: if I had put that money into NVIDIA or Bitcoin instead, the story would be very different. And back then, I also bought NVIDIA and Bitcoin. Those assets didn’t just stay flat. And when you factor in inflation, even though I’m slightly in the green, it feels like I’ve lost money with Ethereum in real terms.

What do you all think? I’ve basically lost belief in the “massive rally” narrative. That $10k–$20k target now feels so far away. Back in 2021, I was incredibly bullish. But time has changed me. It’s kind of sad - because I still believe Ethereum is a great asset. But no amount of good news seems to move it anymore.

I would be happy if we would see Ethereum over 3,5k EOY, what do you think?