ETH and SOL (and all L1s) will eventually be devalued because they are NOT monetary assets tied to the growth of their ecosystem. Apps matter, not chains. - In past cycles this was the case, you held ETH and SOL to transact with their ecosystems. NFTs were denominated in ETH, you took profit on memecoins into SOL, PnL Cards were denominated in SOL - This cycle that isn't happening anymore. With FOMO and PUMPapp trades are denominated in dollars. Funds don't need to be held on a particular chain, you can hold USDC anywhere and only the amount you want to swap with is bridged and used to buy a token. You can be a top trader on FOMO and never hold a single dollar of ETH or SOL. - In 2026 the difference between chains is negligible. Every chain is fast, every chain is cheap, every chain has apps, bridging friction is near zero. - Users follow opportunities, people flow to apps, not chains. I firmly believe any app could be on any chain and it would not make any difference to the regular user. If BNB had a new narrative and spat out $100m runners every day, we'd all be there. The chain doesn't matter. - This cycle, it's been apps that captured all the value. Hyperliquid captures fees and buys back the tokens. Pump has monetized pillaging and slams it into their token. Furthermore, they dump $100s of millions of SOL to fund their operations. Pons went to half a billion from RH szn. We see chains bullposting their volumes and TVL, that's great for the DEXes, but what value does the blockchain token capture? - So if all the value goes to the apps what's the point of ETH, SOL and other L1 tokens? If you were to value L1s tokens as just gas, the valuation needs to drop by 99%. - However, it's also a governance token. Governance power is valuable only to the extent the network generates value that token holders can influence or capture. eg. If the network value goes up, governing it is worth more, and vice versa. (open to thoughts on this) Raw unfiltered thoughts. I think too much of us still have a 2021 L1Trade mindset where chains were the best thing to invest in. It's 2026, we have a better class of investment now, businesses that actually make money instead of emitting tokens.