Ethereum vs Bitcoin – Explaining the 44% underperformance

    ETH and BTC seemed to be at oversold levels on the charts
    Bitcoin has seen more gains over the last two years, compared to ETH

As a seasoned analyst with years of experience navigating the volatile world of cryptocurrencies, I find myself increasingly concerned about Ethereum’s performance against Bitcoin. The underperformance of ETH over the past two years is hard to ignore, and it seems that despite the approval of Spot ETFs for both assets, Ethereum has yet to capitalize on this opportunity.


As a crypto enthusiast, I’ve noticed that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) continue to dominate the crypto landscape in terms of market value. Yet, over the past two years, Ethereum has failed to keep pace with Bitcoin, even during periods of significant price volatility for both assets.

Despite recent approvals for Spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), these developments have yet to significantly improve Ethereum’s performance in comparison to Bitcoin.

Ethereum slides against Bitcoin

Based on information from CryptoQuant, Ethereum has lagged behind Bitcoin by approximately 44% during the previous two years. This analysis suggests that Ethereum’s performance relative to Bitcoin started to decline following The Merge event, which marked Ethereum’s transition from a Proof of Work (PoW) to a Proof of Stake (PoS) system for validation of transactions.

Since then, Ethereum has struggled to keep pace with Bitcoin.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin – Explaining the 44% underperformance

The ETH/BTC price, at press time, stood at 0.0425, marking its lowest level since April 2021.

Despite the positive news of Spot ETF approvals for both assets in 2024 — Ethereum’s ETF being approved in July — The approval has done little to reverse ETH’s lack of performance against BTC

Some reasons for the Ethereum/Bitcoin disparity

Over the last few months, Ethereum and Bitcoin have shown distinct differences in their transaction fees and network activity.

Indeed, data reveals that Ethereum’s fees have noticeably decreased post its Dencun update, leading to reduced network usage. Furthermore, Ethereum’s transaction count in comparison to other periods has dropped substantially. It peaked at around 27 transactions per second in June 2021, but now stands at only 11 – A level not seen since July 2020 on many occasions.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin – Explaining the 44% underperformance

Contrarily, there’s been a surge in both transaction volume and fees for Bitcoin over the past few months. This increase can be largely attributed to the emergence of Inscriptions (related to Bitcoin Ordinals) and Runes. These innovations have boosted the need for block space, which in turn has led to an upward trend in transaction costs within the Bitcoin network.

Due to a decrease in Ethereum transaction fees, there’s been a corresponding reduction in the rate at which Ether (ETH) is destroyed through the EIP-1559 mechanism. This means that less ETH is being burned, leading to a decrease in deflationary pressure within the network and making Ethereum function more like a traditional inflationary currency.

In my study, I’ve noticed that the current state of the Ethereum network is significantly different from its past phases. Previously, elevated transaction fees resulted in a faster burn rate, which in turn decreased the total circulating ETH supply due to the network’s design that incorporates a portion of each transaction fee as a form of destruction (or ‘burn’).

Analyzing the ETH/BTC two-year MVRV

Ultimately, a look at the difference in the Market Value to Realization Value (MVRV) over a two-year period for both Ethereum and Bitcoin showed that there was an increasing gap in their asset values.

Currently, Ethereum’s MVRV is slightly negative at approximately -1.16%, whereas Bitcoin’s MVRV is noticeably positive, surpassing 14% in value.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin – Explaining the 44% underperformance

– Realistic or not, here’s ETH market cap in BTC’s terms

This disparity in MVRV ratios illustrates how much ETH has underperformed, compared to BTC.

Here, the MVRV (Moving Average Realized Value) ratio indicates the gain or loss experienced by asset owners, calculated as the contrast between the present market value and the realized value. In this instance, Bitcoin investors are enjoying a profit margin exceeding 14%, whereas Ethereum holders are experiencing a loss greater than 1%.

Read More

2024-09-07 17:12