BlockBeats News, May 21st – Today may be a day of reflection for ETH's steadfast supporters. This is because David Hoffman, co-founder of the long-time Ethereum ecosystem advocate Bankless who has witnessed two full bull-bear cycles, announced that he has sold all his ETH holdings.

Meanwhile, while HYPE and ZEC are experiencing a counter-trend rise, ETH is still struggling: it doesn't rise with the bull market and falls hard in the bear market, several ETH OGs have completely sold off their holdings in this cycle. At the same time, there is ongoing community debate about governance models and development directions, with the Ethereum Foundation continuously selling off funds, yet the funded projects are slow to materialize. The 11-year-old ETH seems to be facing a "mid-life crisis."

Fortunately, at this moment of "standing alone," Tom Lee and his "buddy" seem to have become the most loyal E guards.

Tom Lee has been continuously accumulating a significant ETH position through his Bitmine and is steadily progressing towards the goal of accumulating 5% of the supply. Although Tom Lee has shown strong determination for long-term holding, his position is currently at a $7.2 billion unrealized loss, a figure that is rare in the entire financial history.

Meanwhile, despite experiencing dozens of contract liquidations, the "buddy" is still firmly opening long positions on ETH. During tonight's decline, the "buddy" is still consistently adding to their position. As of the time of writing, ETH has become their only remaining long position, holding a value of $10.92 million in ETH, with a liquidation price of $2077.

BlockBeats believes that the biggest problem ETH currently faces is a lack of "value capture." Despite the thriving L2 ecosystem and strong growth in stablecoins and RWAs, the low performance of Layer 1 fees and continuous Foundation sell pressure have hindered the effective operation of the ETH deflation mechanism. Whether it can rebound in the future through the Pectra upgrade, increased institutional adoption (such as stablecoin tokenization), and the combination of AI and blockchain will determine whether it can overcome its "mid-life crisis."