Ethereum (ETH-USD) just marked its 10th birthday, and Andrew Keys believes the next decade could be even more transformative. Speaking to Fortune, the chairman of Ether Machine shared why he sees Ethereum as the foundational commodity of the internet, not just another cryptocurrency, and why Wall Street still doesn’t fully understand what it’s looking at.
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Keys Says Ethereum Is Built for Real-World Demand
Ethereum’s critics often point to its changing supply and question whether it can be taken seriously as a monetary asset. Keys disagrees completely. He pushed back on the idea that Ethereum lacks monetary clarity, arguing that its design is intentionally adaptive. Unlike fixed-supply assets, Ethereum adjusts its issuance based on network usage. When activity increases, more ETH is burned through transaction fees. When usage slows, issuance resumes. This system aligns Ethereum’s supply with real-time demand rather than following a rigid inflation schedule.
Keys sees that flexibility as Ethereum’s core strength. In his view, ETH isn’t trying to be digital gold. It’s trying to be the fuel that powers a decentralized internet.
From a Hot Manhattan Apartment to a $1.5B SPAC
Keys has been in the Ethereum ecosystem since its earliest days. He first encountered the project while sweating through a Manhattan summer in a tiny walk-up apartment. Ten years later, he’s leading a $1.5 billion SPAC through Ether Machine, a firm designed to invest in and support Ethereum-native infrastructure and companies.
Keys says the institutional world is finally waking up. The U.S. has cleared spot ETH ETFs. Regulated custody providers are on standby. Stablecoin laws like the recently passed “Genius Act” are paving the way for banks and fintechs to build on Ethereum without regulatory guesswork.
Wall Street Still Doesn’t Get It, But It’s Coming
Despite the progress, Keys says Wall Street continues to misunderstand what Ethereum actually does. Many still view it as a tech stock proxy or a Bitcoin alternative. In his view, ETH is neither. It’s a commodity, but one designed for usage, not scarcity.
He says what makes Ethereum different is that it’s not just a ledger. It’s a programmable layer for money and applications, with real revenue from gas fees and actual throughput that can scale globally. That kind of infrastructure, he argues, will power stablecoins, tokenized assets, identity protocols, and entire financial rails.
Keys Doesn’t Own Any Bitcoin
Keys also made it clear he doesn’t own any Bitcoin. It’s not personal, he just doesn’t see it playing the same role in the future of finance. Bitcoin may still have its place as a store of value, but for Keys, Ethereum is where the action is. It’s where innovation lives, where developers build, and where institutions are now seriously deploying capital.
While Ethereum is often compared to platforms like Google (GOOGL), Keys believes the analogy doesn’t go far enough. Ethereum isn’t like Google because it doesn’t just help you find or organize information. Instead, Ethereum lets code, ownership, and transactions all happen out in the open, where anyone can verify and build on them.
At the time of writing, ETH is sitting at $3,556.59.
