BlackRock Highlights Ethereum as Core Layer

ETHEREUM TOKENIZATION GAINS BACKING FROM BLACKROCK AMID MARKET SHARE CONCERNS

ByMolly McNearney

BlackRock’s 2026 Thematic Outlook positions Ethereum at the center of its tokenization strategy, framing the network as a potential “toll road” for real-world and on-chain assets. Rather than making a directional call on ETH price, the firm emphasizes Ethereum’s infrastructure role in the settlement and fee flows of tokenized assets.

Ethereum Dominates Tokenized Asset Activity

According to BlackRock, over 65% of tokenized assets currently reside on Ethereum. This framing underscores Ethereum’s role as a base layer, where the majority of issuance, settlement, and fee payments occur.

BlackRock specifically notes that its analysts adjust stablecoin transaction volumes to remove inorganic activity—such as bot trading—by analyzing data from Coin Metrics and Allium through the Visa Onchain Analytics dashboard.

This caveat ensures investors focus on real economic throughput rather than inflated activity metrics.

Market Share Is a Moving Target

BlackRock’s “65%+” figure is a point-in-time snapshot, with Ethereum’s share subject to drift as tokenization expands to other chains and reporting windows change.

RWA.xyz data from late January 2026 shows Ethereum’s tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market share at 59.84%, with a total value of approximately $12.8 billion on Jan. 22.

Excluding stablecoins, Ethereum led with $13.43 billion in tokenized asset value as of Jan. 21.

For ETH holders, the forward-looking concern is not simply whether institutions tokenize assets, but whether settlement and fee-paying paths route through ETH, maintaining the “toll road” thesis.

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Base-Layer Role Could Be Diluted by Rollups

Ethereum’s position as a settlement layer could be weakened if activity moves to rollups or other Layer 1 networks, where users do not directly interact with ETH.

L2BEAT data shows major rollups securing significant value:

  • Arbitrum One: $17.52 billion
  • Base: $12.94 billion
  • OP Mainnet: $2.33 billion

These Layer 2 solutions preserve Ethereum’s security role but shift the daily fee payment paths, affecting how ETH captures value from transactions. Rollup economics and fee structures vary, which matters for long-term ETH revenue potential.

Tokenized Cash Could Become a Key Driver

Tokenized cash is expected to contribute significantly to Ethereum’s throughput, with projections suggesting massive future transaction activity:

  • Citi’s stablecoin report projects 2030 issuance at $1.9 trillion (base case) and $4.0 trillion (bull case).
  • Paired with a 50x velocity assumption, this implies $100 trillion to $200 trillion in annual transaction volume.

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Even small shifts in settlement network market share can have substantial implications when throughput scales to these levels, highlighting the importance of Ethereum’s role in capturing fees and maintaining its position as the dominant tokenization layer.

Conclusion

BlackRock’s 2026 thesis frames Ethereum as a critical infrastructure layer for tokenized assets, emphasizing the network’s settlement and fee capture potential. However, the toll road model depends on where transactions actually settle—whether directly on ETH or via rollups and other L1 networks. Market-share drift, Layer 2 adoption, and tokenized cash activity will determine how effectively Ethereum monetizes the growing tokenization ecosystem.

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