Ethereum was launched in the year 2015, 10 years ago now. Since then, it has seen a vast range of improvements and changes, which has led it to be used in many different types of companies. Banking companies such as PayPal use it as a form of payment, gaming companies use it to launch NFTs, tech companies use it to pay their employees, and many other companies in other industries also use it. This raises the question of whether Ethereum will ever be considered “mainstream.” There are many things to consider in this question, but it can be simplified into three main problems: volatility, mindset, and the inability to charge back transactions on the blockchain.

1. Token Volatility

One main deterrent from all cryptocurrency that has always existed is the volatility of it. Cryptocurrency values change every day, and while this is true for every single currency, the fluctuations in price do not change nearly as much as cryptocurrency fluctuations.

The chart above depicts the value of the United States dollar to a euro. If you only consider the value within the last 10 years (beginning 2015), the lowest point it was at was roughly 0.8 euros, while the highest was roughly 1.03 euros. This is relatively stable, as the numbers do not fluctuate too greatly. While the volatility of USD might be different when you compare it to other currencies, you can see that it is not too significant.

The graph above depicts the value of Ethereum over time in USD. The price of Ethereum peaked at an all-time high in 2022 of nearly 5,000 and then dropped in value by nearly 80% in less than half a year. This volatility is something that cannot exist in something that may become a mainstream currency.

2. Public Mindset

The second issue with Ethereum becoming mainstream is the mindset of people on cryptocurrency. With how common cryptocurrency scams are, and how complicated Ethereum is, it will be a nearly impossible task to convince the average person to convert all their money into Ethereum.

According to a survey by Gallup in June 2025, 60% of United States adults are not ever interested in buying cryptocurrency. With such a large portion of people in the United States alone being unwilling to adopt cryptocurrency as a whole, an even larger portion globally would be unwilling to adopt Ethereum specifically. It will be nearly impossible to change more than 60% of the population’s mind on the type of currency they should be using, especially with how volatile it is.

3. Consumer Power

The third issue with Ethereum becoming mainstream is the lack of consumer power. When using a credit card, consumers are able to ask credit card companies to forcefully refund a purchase. This does not exist in blockchain. While all transactions are public, transactions cannot be forcefully refunded, making it not safe for consumers. While there is an argument to be made about consumer education, taking away the ability to refund purchases will make it even harder to sell the already skeptical population on adopting Ethereum in the mainstream.

Summary

When all of these setbacks are considered, it becomes clear that blockchain as a whole becoming mainstream is far in the future. However, all of the issues mentioned do have some nuance to them. When considering the volatility of crypto, experts predict that if the volume of trades increases significantly (which is what we are assuming in our theoretical Ethereum mainstream society), the volatility would decrease significantly. Credit card companies could simply refuse to adopt crypto until the ability to forcefully refund purchases gets implemented, and if these two things were to change, the percent of people unwilling to adopt crypto would go down significantly. The answer to the question, then, of whether Ethereum will ever become mainstream is simply “it depends.” Ethereum could only become mainstream once it is as secure as modern-day banking—something that would require a lot of work to achieve.