Raoul Pal is seeing something that many people still haven’t fully understood. According to him, when real money, real assets, and real settlement migrate to blockchain, banks will have to choose. And his bet is firmly on Ethereum.

The Real Vision team is talking more and more about Ethereum’s role in traditional finance. The question now isn’t whether banks will adopt blockchain, but which network they will trust. Raoul Pal and other executives in the industry have a very clear view: Ethereum should be the choice.

Why? Banks don’t mess around with infrastructure. They want guaranteed uptime, resilience, scalability, and a track record that has already been through everything. Ethereum has exactly that. The network has deep liquidity, massive developer support, and established security standards. This isn’t a gamble on experimental technology—it’s a decision to go with something that has already proven to work.

Raoul Pal was very direct: “The entire banking system will move to ETH.” But he adds that finance will continue to be multi-chain, not single-chain. That makes sense because decision-makers choose what reduces both operational risk and career risk.

The move is already underway. Major institutions are testing tokenization, stablecoins, blockchain settlement, and custody in real-world pilots. They’re comparing networks based on speed, reliability, compliance, and their ability to handle heavy volumes. Vivek Raman, CEO of Etherealize, reinforces that Ethereum is the best option between product and market for modernizing financial markets. For him, Ethereum isn’t just a tokenization platform—it’s a platform for everything in financial infrastructure.

The upgrade to proof-of-stake helped a lot. It reduced energy consumption and improved its position with institutions that take sustainability seriously. In addition, the network’s leadership in smart contracts, deep liquidity, and proven track record remain strong reasons.

Raoul Pal went further in his predictions. He believes that major global banks may migrate settlement, clearing, and custody operations to Ethereum within 12 to 18 months. If that happens, it could unlock something like $4.2 trillion in liquidity from tokenized assets by 2027. An impressive figure.

The key catalyst here is ISO 20022, the global standard for banking messaging. If integrated well with Ethereum systems, it significantly reduces friction between traditional finance and blockchain. Proof of this is Project Guardian, led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore with JPMorgan and DBS Bank. This isn’t theory anymore—it’s execution.