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- Vitalik Buterin believes low-risk DeFi could serve that as Ethereum’s “Google moment,” creating stable long-term value and aligning with the network’s cultural ethos.
- Analysts suggesting this shift could push ETH’s price higher, with potential 20–50% upside in the next year if adoption grows and global savings markets are tapped.
In line with Crypto News Flash (CNF) report, the Ethereum Foundation has raised prospects for DeFi and ETH in 2025 and 2026. Following the fact that decentralized finance (DeFi) has long been synonymous with high-stakes speculation and headline-grabbing exploits, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is charting a more grounded path forward.
In a Sept 21–22 blog and tweet posts, Mr. Buterin framed this as Ethereum’s potential “Google moment”: steady, useful services that create persistent network value without the speculative noise.
Low-risk defi can be for Ethereum what search was for Googlehttps://t.co/6xIxCrOToQ
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 20, 2025
Specifically, he also urged that Ethereum doesn’t need another flashy narrative to succeed — it needs reliable, low-risk DeFi: payments, savings tools, fully collateralized lending, and well-designed synthetics. He further stated,
ETH is valuable because people use the Ethereum chain to buy and sell and leverage-trade ETH.
At the center of Buterin’s argument is a resolution to Ethereum’s long-standing “dissonance”: the tension between revenue-generating apps and those aligned with the network’s cultural values.
Speculative trading and memecoins have spiked fees — recall the 2022 Otherdeed NFT sale that triggered Ethereum’s largest single-day gas fees — but they’ve often clashed with ideals of privacy and equity. And concerning DeFi, it was further stated that:
By ‘low-risk DeFi’ I include both the basic function of payments and savings, and well-understood tools like synthetic assets and fully collateralized lending, and the ability to exchange between these assets.
Implications for Ethereum’s Market Price (ETH)
Following Buterin’s blueprint carries profound weight for ETH’s valuation trajectory. By positioning low-risk DeFi as a reliable fee generator, it could drive sustained demand for ETH as gas and collateral, potentially elevating its price floor amid volatility.
Previously, CNF highlighted that Grayscale launched an Ethereum covered call ETF to monetize ETH price swings. Historical parallels are telling: Google’s search dominance propelled Alphabet’s stock through diversification; similarly, Ethereum’s TVL rebound to $100B+ has already correlated with ETH’s 2025 gains, outpacing many layer-1 peers.
Lastly, recent analyst projections suggest that if low-risk DeFi captures even a fraction of global savings markets. ETH could see 20–50% upside in the next 12 months, bolstered by staking yields and institutional inflows.
However, as of now, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $4,171.76, reflecting a 6.52% increase over the past day and 7.65% over the past week.
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