Where crypto angel investors should deploy capital after Ethereum ETH approval

The following is a guest post from Tim Haldorsson, CEO of Lunar Strategy.

In nine short years, Ethereum has gone from pioneering on-chain smart contracts and programmable crypto to becoming the backbone of decentralized finance and blockchain infrastructure. The recent SEC approval of ETH ETFs is just a single step in this journey, albeit a significant milestone that has solidified Ethereum’s status as a mature asset class worthy of serious investment consideration.

This op-ed will highlight the most promising sectors within the Ethereum ecosystem that I believe angel investors should watch closely to take advantage of this economic momentum.

Layer 2 Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Ethereum paved the way for the birth of decentralized on-chain markets, planting the seeds that have blossomed into a global DeFi sector with a market cap of $104.55 billion. DeFi is a complex rabbit hole filled with unique financial mechanisms that are unparalleled in traditional finance. However, they rely on the security, speed, and decentralization offered by Ethereum’s smart contracts. Layer 2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and zkSync have emerged to address Ethereum’s scalability issues, reducing usage costs and increasing transaction speeds without sacrificing privacy or security. These improvements make Ethereum’s technology more accessible and perfect for DeFi activities. 

In the DeFi space, projects like lending and borrowing platforms, futures and perpetuals trading platforms, token seeding and launching platforms, and both centralized and decentralized exchanges have proven immensely successful. Even in the days when ETH only commanded the attention of a small niche of market participants, these technologies were spun into a myriad of business models that proved a real demand for DeFi solutions on a grand scale. Some of the top DeFi protocols have even grown to multi-billion dollar valuations, underscoring the strength of this sector.

As Ethereum transitions into a…