January 30, 2025
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Ether’s Worst Showing Versus Bitcoin Highlights Cycle of Diminishing Returns: Van Straten

The two tokens’ relative performance is more a sign of bitcoin strength than ether’s weakness, one observer said.”, — write: www.coindesk.com

The two tokens’ relative performance is more a sign of bitcoin strength than ether’s weakness, one observer said. Jan 30, 2025, 9:54 a.m. UTC

Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, has fallen out of investor relative to bitcoin (BTC), returning the worst bull-cycle performance against its larger rival since the Ethereum blockchain’s inception in 2015.

A comparison of the ether to bitcoin ratio across past cycles from the tokens’ respective lows shows consistent underperformance. The black line in the chart above represents the current cycle that started in November 2022, when bitcoin bottomed at around $15,500 during the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. With each cycle, ether’s return against bitcoin has diminished.

On Wednesday, the ratio dropped below 0.0300 to touch 0.02993, a four-year low. The previous low was recorded on Jan. 19, a day before President Trump’s inauguration. This month, the ratio — the exchange rate between the two largest cryptocurrencies — is down 15%. It has declined 44% over the past year.

Bitcoin is currently trading around $105,000, having recovered from the slump to $98,000 caused by the release of DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) program. Ether, currently at $3,202, would need to reach roughly $3,360 to undo the DeepSeek damage.

“My general take is that the ether to bitcoin ratio underperformance is more due to a strength of bitcoin rather than a weakness of ether,” said Andre Dragosch, head of research at Bitwise’s European desk. “Ether tends to suffer from ‘middle child syndrome,’ it is not as scalable as smart contract competitors like solana (SOL) while it is not really competing with bitcoin as the prime store-of-value.”

James Van StratenJames Van Straten is a Senior Analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and its interplay with the macroeconomic environment. Previously, James worked as a Research Analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, where he developed expertise in on-chain analytics. His work focuses on monitoring flows to analyze Bitcoin’s role within the broader financial system. In addition to his professional endeavors, James serves as an advisor to Coinsilium, a UK publicly traded company, where he provides guidance on their Bitcoin treasury strategy. He also holds investments in Bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Semler Scientific (SMLR).

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James Van Straten

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