Analyst Raul Pal believes the crypto trade is on the “Google of 2017” for Bitcoin, and even earlier for Ethereum (ETH).
In 2017, Google (Alphabet) had already confirmed its dominance in search and digital promoting, however was removed from realizing the total potential of its community (cloud, AI, and many others.).
Pal hinted that Bitcoin will probably be at the same stage in 2025. Though the community is robust and adoption is accelerating, the total potential has not but been totally captured.
Ethereum is even earlier in its lifecycle, which means its community adoption and utility are much less mature than Bitcoin. Due to this fact, the “upward potential” is even larger.
“If it seems to be like a duck…”
In accordance with Raul Pal, Bitcoin and Ethereum function like networked platforms. Simply as Google, Meta, and Amazon derive their worth primarily from person scale and interactions, a cryptocurrency’s worth comes from its community results.
“If it seems to be like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is most likely a duck…” Pal stated.
Metcalfe’s Legislation states that the worth of a community will increase roughly because the sq. of the variety of customers.
Pal argues that the primary issue that creates worth for cryptocurrencies is adoption, not money circulation or earnings.
Due to this fact, the extra individuals use Bitcoin or Ethereum, the extra helpful the community turns into.
Though Bitcoin’s intrinsic money circulation is restricted (no firms subject dividends), the worth of the community itself grows exponentially with the quantity of people that undertake it as cash, retailer of worth, or collateral.
The businesses talked about above are additionally network-driven. For Google, that worth comes from an ecosystem of customers, advertisers, and knowledge. Within the meta, community results come from social media customers.
Importantly, these are platforms the place the scale of the community determines a lot of the worth, not simply earnings and conventional steadiness sheets.
In accordance with Pal, cryptocurrencies match this mannequin “nearly by definition,” so treating cryptocurrencies like conventional cash-flow companies misses the core driver of worth.

