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Ethereum is entering what experts describe as its first institutional supercycle, a shift driven by yield, transparency, and the accelerating movement of real-world assets onto the network.

Joe Shalom, co-CEO of SharpLink (SBET) and former BlackRock managing director, outlined the transition during a new episode of the Milk Road podcast, arguing that Ethereum’s long-term fundamentals “have never been stronger.”

Shalom said the turning point is visible in SharpLink’s own Q3 earnings; its first full quarter operating as a digital asset treasury. The company generated more than $10 million from staking rewards and booked over $100 million in net income thanks to ETH’s appreciation.

Moreover, SharpLink’s key metric, ETH concentration per share, doubled from June to September as institutional ownership climbed to 33%. Filings now show major firms, including Fidelity and BlackRock, accumulating SBET as a proxy for staked ETH exposure.

According to the co-CEO of SharpLink, institutions are finding it easier to buy SBET than to custody spot crypto directly. ETH ETFs also leave yield on the table, while DATs like SBET stake nearly 100% of their holdings and restake through partnerships with EtherFi, EigenLayer, and ConsenSys’ Linnea.

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That said, all activity is handled through regulated custody providers such as Anchorage, a requirement for large funds seeking risk-managed exposure to DeFi.

Shalom noted that Wall Street’s view of Ethereum has changed sharply from earlier cycles, when Bitcoin dominated institutional conversations. Ethereum is now seen as a programmable, sometimes deflationary settlement layer for global finance, with stablecoins, tokenized funds, and RWAs increasingly gravitating toward its infrastructure.

The former BlackRock managing director argues that avoiding digital assets has become a “career risk” for analysts and managers competing for forward-looking mandates.

Much of the bullishness centers on tokenization. The market for tokenized assets sits at around $30 billion today. Still, it is expected to scale into the trillions, with Shalom calling Ethereum the only chain that combines liquidity, uptime, and regulatory familiarity.