**Ether is trading at approximately half its all-time high price, yet the Ethereum network remains more valuable than some of the world's most prominent corporations.**
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has experienced significant price erosion amid continued exchange-traded fund outflows but maintains its position among the world's most valuable assets.
At press time, Ether (ETH) traded at roughly $2,088, representing a 57% decline from its peak of nearly $4,900 reached in mid-November 2021. Despite this steep depreciation, Ethereum boasts a market capitalization of nearly $252 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.
This valuation places the blockchain network above global manufacturing giant Toyota ($250 billion) and exceeds the total market value of the precious metal platinum ($245 billion). Other notable companies currently worth less than the Ethereum network include technological stalwart IBM, fast-food chain McDonald's, industrial conglomerate General Electric, energy corporation Shell and entertainment behemoth Disney.
"Ethereum is about the future, about new financial technologies and solutions," Alex Obchakevich, founder of Obchakevich Research, told Cointelegraph. "The project is still very young and attracts many new and young investors who are ready to take risks. I believe that the average Zoomer will choose Ethereum for investment rather than Toyota or IBM shares."
If categorized as a corporation, Ethereum would rank as the fiftieth largest company globally, positioning just behind Nestlé with its market capitalization of nearly $256 billion. This valuation comes despite Ethereum not generating traditional revenue streams or profits like conventional businesses.
Flavio Bianchi, a Polkadot ambassador and chief marketing officer of decentralized fundraising platform Polimec, emphasized this distinction. "Ethereum isn't a business — it's infrastructure," he told Cointelegraph. "Its value doesn't come solely from revenue or profit but from usage and belief in its future role. It enables people to build, transact, issue assets and coordinate without intermediaries."
Obchakevich suggested Ethereum became more attractive after transitioning to proof-of-stake (PoS), reinforcing "its value as a deflationary asset with growth potential in the digital economy." However, recent data contradicts this characterization. According to Ultra Sound Money, Ethereum has become inflationary again, with an annual inflation rate of approximately 0.73% over the past 30 days.
The network's inflation or deflation rate heavily depends on ETH fees burned and the amount of newly issued Ether. Fees have been burned since the implementation of EIP-1559 in 2021, which paired with decreased issuance after the PoS transition, resulted in Ethereum being deflationary during periods of sustained network activity.
Network usage has recently declined significantly. IntoTheBlock data shows that on March 23, daily fees on Ethereum fell to just over $337,000, the lowest value reported since June 2020. YCharts also indicates that on the same day, only 118.67 ETH worth of fees were processed, representing the lowest value recorded this year.
Despite these challenges, ETH's value rose nearly 3.5% over the past 24 hours, increasing its market capitalization by approximately $9.3 billion to $252.1 billion. This figure exceeds Greece's gross domestic product (GDP), currently around $243.5 billion, and surpasses the combined GDP of Slovenia and Croatia.
"For institutional investors, it is a sign of legitimacy," noted Obchakevich regarding these economic comparisons. "Ethereum is valued for smart contracts, and DeFi has a TVL [total value locked] of over $124 billion, seeing it not only as speculation but as the infrastructure of the future."
Pradeep Singh, CEO of enterprise privacy and security infrastructure firm Gateway FM, characterized these valuations as evidence of "a fundamental shift in how we value digital infrastructure." He told Cointelegraph: "What we're witnessing is a growing recognition that significant portions of the global economy will eventually migrate to this infrastructure. Ethereum's market capitalization is essentially pricing in its future role as the settlement layer for everything from financial services to supply chain management."
The Ethereum protocol continues to evolve as developers introduce innovations such as native rollups, further expanding the blockchain's capabilities and potential applications across various sectors.