Speaking on the Sept. 15 Milk Road podcast, both executives argued that ETH’s infrastructure could one day underpin the world’s financial plumbing, replacing Wall Street’s outdated settlement systems.

Wall Street’s Friction vs. Ethereum’s Speed

Chalom, who previously led BlackRock’s digital asset strategy, highlighted the inefficiencies at the core of traditional finance. Equity and bond trades often take a full day to settle, creating counterparty risks and forcing market participants to post collateral. Intermediaries extract fees from this process, adding layers of cost and complexity.

Ethereum, he argued, solves these issues with atomic settlement — transactions finalize in seconds with no counterparty risk. Chalom framed it as a new category of public infrastructure, comparable to the early internet, with the potential to become the universal settlement layer for both financial and economic systems.

Programmable Finance Unlocks New Models

Ethereum’s programmable smart contracts allow for instant dividend distribution, portfolio rebalancing in minutes, and composable trading across assets. Chalom described this flexibility as the blockchain’s “license to win,” positioning Ethereum as a more efficient backbone for institutional activity than Wall Street’s legacy processes.

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Kannan added that Ethereum is more than a financial tool — it’s a “platform for verifiable trust.” Through cryptographic guarantees, it eliminates reliance on institutional promises. EigenLayer, his protocol, extends Ethereum’s security to new networks, enabling use cases ranging from AI agent verification to prediction markets like Polymarket.

Institutions Begin to Accumulate

Both executives agreed that institutional adoption is shifting from education to conviction. While Bitcoin was marketed as digital gold, Ethereum requires explaining complex infrastructure advantages. But once understood, institutions see its long-term potential.

Ethereum ETFs launched in July 2024 gave that adoption a boost. Chalom noted that corporate treasuries now hold around $14–15 billion in ETH, with accumulation accelerating. He predicted Ethereum could surpass Bitcoin’s institutional growth curve, thanks to its dual role as both a store of value and a productive asset that generates yield through staking and decentralized finance.

Ethereum, they argued, is still underappreciated by markets. But as institutions connect its efficiency gains with real-world finance, ETH could become the backbone of tomorrow’s settlement systems — with Wall Street adapting to Ethereum, not the other way around.

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