- Ethereum (ETH) has fallen 39% against Bitcoin (BTC) in 2024, reaching its lowest ratio since May 2020 at 0.02191 BTC per ETH.
- This marks the first time ETH has underperformed BTC in the 12 months following a Bitcoin halving, with the ratio dropping over 50%.
- Macroeconomic factors including inflation concerns and potential trade wars are driving investors toward perceived safer assets like Bitcoin and Gold.
Ethereum’s value against Bitcoin has plummeted to a nearly five-year low as macroeconomic uncertainties push investors toward assets perceived as less risky. The ETH/BTC ratio has fallen to 0.02191, meaning one ETH is now worth just over 2% of a single Bitcoin—levels not seen since May 2020, when ETH traded around $200 and BTC near $10,000.
The current prices show a stark contrast, with Ethereum trading at approximately $1,800 while Bitcoin hovers around $82,000. This 39% year-to-date decline represents an unusual break from historical patterns in cryptocurrency market cycles.
Market analysts point to a significant deviation from previous trends. This is the first time Ethereum has weakened against Bitcoin during the 12-month period following a BTC halving event. The most recent halving occurred on April 20, 2024, when Bitcoin miners’ block rewards were slashed by 50% to 3.125 BTC. During past halving cycles, Ethereum typically outperformed Bitcoin in the subsequent year, making the current more than 50% ratio decline particularly noteworthy.
The underperformance reflects broader economic concerns influencing investor behavior. Threats of tariff-driven trade wars, persistent inflation, and elevated bond yields globally have steered capital toward assets perceived as more liquid and less volatile. In this environment, Bitcoin has emerged as the cryptocurrency market’s relative safe haven, while gold—the traditional ultimate haven asset—has climbed to record highs.
This quarter has been especially challenging for Ethereum relative to Bitcoin, marking one of the worst quarterly performances in several years according to data from Glassnode. The last comparable underperformance occurred in the third quarter of 2019, when the ETH/BTC ratio fell to 0.0164, representing a 46% quarterly decline.
Ethereum’s struggles extend beyond its relationship with Bitcoin. The competition from other layer-1 blockchains further highlights ETH’s relative weakness. The SOL/ETH ratio—measuring Solana’s SOL token value against Ethereum—has increased 24% year-to-date to 0.07007. This indicates SOL has significantly outperformed ETH in 2025, despite SOL itself experiencing a 35% decline against the US dollar since the beginning of the year.
As market participants continue to navigate uncertain economic conditions, the preference for assets perceived as more stable appears to be reshaping traditional cryptocurrency investment patterns, with Ethereum bearing the brunt of this shift in investor sentiment.
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