Угроза инфраструктурного краха Ethereum: Банк Италии предупреждает Translation: Threat of Ethereum Infrastructure Collapse: Bank of Italy Warns

A collapse in the market value of Ethereum could disrupt the transaction mechanism within the blockchain and freeze assets worth over $800 billion. This conclusion was reached by economist Claudia Biancotti in a study for the Bank of Italy.

In the paper titled «What If Ether Falls to Zero?» the author identified the primary vulnerability of decentralized networks as the tight correlation between the native token’s price and the infrastructure’s functionality.

Blockchains are maintained by independent validators who earn rewards in cryptocurrency (in this case, ETH). If the token loses its value, the economic incentives to sustain the network will vanish. This could trigger a chain reaction that transforms market risk into infrastructure risk.

Validators would begin shutting down their equipment to avoid losses, leading to a slowdown and ultimately a complete halt in transaction confirmations.

The greatest threat looms for users of assets issued atop the primary blockchain. Even fully collateralized stablecoins (like USDT and USDC) or tokenized securities would become worthless.

If the network ceases to operate, these assets would remain in wallets but would be impossible to transfer. The infrastructure upon which they rely would simply stop responding.

The decline in token value would not only disincentivize validators but also diminish the network’s «security budget.» A 51% attack would become affordable. Malicious actors could easily seize control of the distributed ledger, enabling double-spending or censorship of transactions.

Biancotti proposed two solutions to regulators:

As a protective measure, she suggested maintaining off-chain ownership registries. This would allow users’ balances to be restored on an alternative network in case the primary blockchain fails. Automatic cross-chain bridges could be unsafe or overloaded during a crisis.

It’s worth noting that MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe stated that the narrative regarding Ethereum’s «death,» based on its prolonged decline against Bitcoin, is unfounded.