Ethereum's valuation based on BlackRock's asset size and market capitalization

Recently, I saw an interesting comparative discussion on Twitter. The topic roughly went like this: Blue Fox posted the following opinion on Twitter: "Offshore USD is at least over 10 trillion. If 50% of that is running on-chain in the future, with Ethereum accounting for about 60% (based on the current approximate proportion), then Ethereum will have approximately 3 trillion USD running on-chain. This 3 trillion USD won't just sit quietly on-chain; it will participate in various financial activities, such as trading/lending/contracts/prediction markets/options/on-chain stocks/on-chain funds… Ethereum will have a very prosperous ecosystem." I strongly agree with this viewpoint. Another netizen raised the following question regarding this viewpoint: "BlackRock manages over $12 trillion in assets today, yet BlackRock's market capitalization is only $173 billion. How do you explain this? Let's discuss this." The point of this question is: Blue Fox believes that when the scale of on-chain assets on Ethereum is substantial ($3 trillion), Ethereum's market capitalization will also be considerable. However, this netizen provided a counterexample—BlackRock currently manages a substantial amount of assets (over $10 trillion), yet its market capitalization is only a few hundred billion dollars. Therefore, this netizen argues that the logic of using a large on-chain asset scale to deduce a high Ethereum market capitalization is flawed. Then Blue Fox explained it this way: "The asset management company model is actually relatively simple, relying on fee revenue. Its ceiling depends on the size of the global asset market, and there's a lot of room for fee reduction (intense competition). Achieving a valuation of over $100 billion is already quite good. It's difficult to compare with platforms or infrastructures with strong narratives." Seeing this question and answer, I recalled writing several articles last year about Ethereum's valuation and valuation methods. Actually, using that valuation method to explain the above question would be much easier and clearer. What method? It's the "future free cash flow" that Buffett, Munger, and Duan Yongping have repeatedly mentioned in their statements. What is "cash flow"? I've shared this concept in several articles. Simply put, it's the cash a company has left over after deducting costs from its profits, which it can freely use. The stronger and more sustainable a company's cash flow, the stronger and more robust its valuation will be, according to classic value investor calculations. In the following description, for simplicity, we'll use net profit instead of free cash flow to compare the two research subjects. As of September 2025, BlackRock's market capitalization was $172.5 billion, its price-to-earnings ratio was 28.91, its net profit was approximately $3.243 billion, and BlackRock managed $10 trillion in assets. Even using the price-to-earnings ratio and market capitalization, one of the world's largest companies managing $10 trillion in assets would only generate about $6 billion annually. Why is its profitability so thin? Why is it so disproportionate to its assets under management? The fundamental reason is related to its revenue model. As Blue Fox explained, it mainly collects asset management fees, its profit model is simple, and the fee collection is very infrequent. Therefore, its annual net profit/free cash flow is very limited, so its market capitalization naturally cannot be high, let alone comparable to the scale of assets it manages. The core valuation element here is still to look at the company's net profit/free cash flow. Regarding Ethereum's valuation, I think its business model is very complex, resembling both a commodity and a platform. Although I haven't yet summarized a satisfactory model, at least the free cash flow generated by this platform each year certainly plays an important role in its valuation. In terms of the potential for profit/free cash flow from these platforms, the gap between BlackRock and Ethereum is enormous. Ethereum is not an asset management platform, but an ecosystem trading platform used to process, clear, and settle transactions. Its future transaction processing capacity could reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of TPS. What does this mean? It means it will process hundreds of thousands or even millions of transactions per second. And in each transaction, Ethereum, as the platform, will actually collect cash flow (transaction fees, Gas), and use this cash flow to buy back (burn) shares (ETH) to reward shareholders (holders). In other words, Ethereum has the potential to collect hundreds of thousands or even millions of cash flows per second in the future. Where can BlackRock compare to this potential?