Ethereum requires three catalysts to regain price momentum and surge higher, according to Sharplink Gaming CEO Joseph Chalom, who outlined the conditions in an interview with Robert Baggs on Cointelegraph's Chain Reaction show published to YouTube on Thursday. The first catalyst is the passage of the CLARITY Act in the US, which came as all 13 Republican members and two Democrats voted to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act at the US Senate Banking Committee meeting on the same day. Chalom emphasized that while many view the legislation—designed to give the US crypto industry greater clarity—as a domestic matter, it signals a major shift to other jurisdictions worldwide. The second catalyst is a return in market risk appetite, which Chalom said depends largely on geopolitical tensions easing and the cooling of the "AI thesis." The third catalyst is the continued expansion of real-world asset tokenization, where Chalom believes Ethereum will "dominate." Sharplink Gaming holds approximately 861,251 ETH, valued at $1.89 billion at the time of publication, making it the second-largest publicly listed Ethereum treasury company.
## US crypto legislation signals global shift
Chalom highlighted the international implications of the CLARITY Act during his travels across Asia. "I've been traveling a lot in Asia, and if you go to Korea, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore, they are watching really closely because they realize the US went from having a hostile stance towards crypto and digital assets to become the leader again in finance and you'll see a red dollarization of a lot of financial activity and these other capitals are very worried," Chalom said.
Joe Chalom spoke to Cointelegraph's Robert Baggs on Chain Reaction. Source: Cointelegraph
## Market conditions and price context
Ether (ETH) reached an all-time high of $4,823 in August 2025 as part of a broader market uptrend, but has since declined 55% to $2,190 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap. Chalom identified the return of market risk appetite as essential for recovery, contingent on improvements in geopolitical conditions and reduced focus on the AI investment thesis.
## Tokenization as dominant Ethereum use case
Chalom identified real-world asset (RWA) tokenization as the final catalyst, emphasizing that "tokenization of financial assets is where Ethereum is going to dominate." He noted that the current tokenized RWA market stands at approximately $32 billion, despite tokenization beginning in 2017. "Now you're seeing announcements of whole fund complexes being tokenized," Chalom said.
JPMorgan filed to launch a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum on Wednesday, allowing stablecoin issuers to hold reserves backing their stablecoins in a regulated, cash-like vehicle while earning interest. In March, Franklin Templeton announced a partnership with Ondo Finance to bring tokenized versions of its exchange-traded funds onchain, enabling investors to access them through crypto wallets.
Chalom projected significant growth in the tokenized asset space. "You could see a world where there's not $30 billion in tokenized assets in a year from now. It could be $500 billion or a trillion," he said.
