I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.Milk Road analyst John Gillen predicts the recent crypto rally is just the beginning, with Ethereum emerging as the key asset. He attributes the surge to macro factors and positions smart money ahead of further gains. Ethereum's dominance in tokenized real-world assets and potential for TradFi valuation support its outperformance over Bitcoin. Industry leaders like Robinhood's CEO highlight a growing tokenization supercycle, reinforcing bullish sentiment.
Last week’s crypto rally may be just the opening shot, according to Milk Road analyst John Gillen, who argues Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is the key asset for everything that follows.
Why This Rally Is Not Just a Short Squeeze
Gillen wrote in a Sunday essay that two events hit crypto order books at the same time: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s bond buyback announcement weakened the dollar and Donald Trump publicly named Hyperliquid at the White House, lighting the fuse for the move.
Last week Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) surged roughly 24% while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) jumped 32%, with $4 billion in shorts liquidated along the way in the largest crypto short squeeze in history.
He argued the smart money had already positioned before the move. Paul Tudor Jones raised his IBIT stake by 18.9%. VanEck’s Matthew Sigel was actively accumulating.
Meanwhile, Citigroup (NYSE:C) announced Bitcoin custody before year-end. Moreover Jim Cramer also sold his Bitcoin in early August, which Gillen called one of the clearest counter-indicators available.
Why Ethereum Is the Real Trade
Gillen argued that Ethereum is the settlement layer for everything that comes next. ETF inflows hit $1.92 billion for the week, the largest since the October 2025 crash.
The tokenized real-world asset market has grown from $2.3 billion three years ago to $44.5 billion today, with Ethereum holding 65% of that market across 35 competing chains.
The analyst conviction behind Ethereum is building from multiple directions.
Galaxy Research VP Lucas Tcheyan told Gillen that ETH today reminds him of Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) after FTX, with sentiment washed out but fundamentals quietly strengthening, calling the ETH/BTC ratio one of the best trades in crypto right now.
Macro investor Jordi Visser agreed, telling Milk Road he expects Ethereum to outperform Bitcoin this year because TradFi can actually value it like a stock using cash flow, yield, and network effects from stablecoins and tokenization.
Why the Tokenization Story Changes Everything
Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev wrote on X that the world is in the early innings of a global tokenization supercycle.
The tokenized RWA market has already grown 1,819% in three years to $44.5 billion, with McKinsey, ARK Invest, and Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) all forecasting trillions more by 2030.
Meanwhile, Cloudflare reported that 57% of all web traffic is now bots, and the company is pivoting to crypto by launching stablecoin wallets that let AI agents pay for APIs without human approval for each transaction.
Gillen’s conclusion is direct. Bitcoin ETF inflows just hit $1.92 billion for the week, the largest since the October 2025 crash.
“This Wartime Ethereum Blitzkrieg we’ve just seen is the beginning, not the end,” he wrote.
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