James Wo, founder and CEO of crypto investment firm DFG, says bitcoin remains the dominant institutional asset in crypto — and ether is unlikely to reach the same status anytime soon.
Speaking to CoinDesk at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris, Wo rejected Bitmine Immersion Technologies chairman Tom Lee’s big prediction that ether would hit $250,000, arguing that Ethereum lacks the same consensus and institutional recognition that has formed around bitcoin.
“I completely disagree with him,” Wo said.
“Bitcoin has a very strong consensus. If you talk to anyone who is an early backer… they believe in bitcoin. Now, in addition to the early backing of bitcoin, all people in crypto, and also traditional financiers, are trying to recognize bitcoin as a safe haven or asset class. I don’t think Ethereum is there yet.”
Ether was trading around $1,775 at the time of writing, while bitcoin was close to $63,000.
Wo argued that ether’s fundamental valuation remains heavily dependent on the localized application layer running directly on top of the network to capture the fee value. With modern Layer-2 networks now redirecting transaction volume and capturing fees independently, Wo explains that the network’s value addition has been structurally different.
“The value of ether has become more diversified or decentralized,” Wo noted.
“The Ethereum token as a whole is not going to capture a lot of value. Onchain activity is not as great as people expected… I don’t think Ethereum will ever reach an all-time high. I think bitcoin will do well, but not Ethereum,” he argued.
Not everyone agrees that Ethereum’s value addition problem is permanent.
In February, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reignited community debate after suggesting that Layer-2 networks, long seen as the primary scaling solution, may “no longer make sense” as Ethereum becomes faster and cheaper. The discussion reflects broader questions about whether future upgrades could allow more economic activity to accrue directly to Ethereum’s base layer.
‘What is bitcoin?’
However, Wo’s view reflects the perspective of an investor who has spent more than a decade deploying capital across digital assets, starting with bitcoin.
After studying mathematics at university, Wo began watching classmates trade bitcoin during the bear market in 2014. He later entered the sector with $20 million in seed capital from his mother, who at the time ran an established business and private equity firm in China.
“In the beginning, I don’t think she trusted me,” Wo recalled. “What is bitcoin? She has no idea.” But she gave him the money regardless and said, “Okay, so I’ll support you anyway.”
He invested that initial capital in bitcoin during the market downturns of late 2014 and 2015. As the 2016 bull market unfolded, he diversified DFG’s balance sheet into alternative layer-1 protocols, becoming an early venture participant in ecosystems including Solana, Polkadot, and Near.
He also managed early stage company investments in consumer applications and Web3 infrastructure, including an early allocation of $10 million to Circle’s USDC stablecoin project in January 2018.
These investments helped transform DFG from a bitcoin-focused investment vehicle to one of crypto’s major venture investors. Today, the firm manages more than 100 portfolio entities with over $1 billion in total assets under management.
Bitcoin’s new all-time high
While Wo remains cautious on ether, his multi-year outlook for bitcoin is constructive. He portrays the asset as a superior liquid investment compared to regional real estate and traditional equity markets.
“I am confident that this will outperform the Chinese stock market and also the US stock market,” Wo said. “Bitcoin in every aspect you can think of from an investment angle – the liquidity is the best in the world.”
Wo expects bitcoin to undergo a short-term correction before reaching new highs later in the cycle.
“If it goes down 50% as a correction… the bottom should be around $60,000 to $62,000,” Wo calculated, adding that only an extreme geopolitical black swan event would push the asset lower.
Looking further out, he expects bitcoin to reach new records in the coming years.
“At the top, we have something like $125,000… I think we’ll see a record high in 2027 or 2028.”
