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Ether has underperformed bitcoin since last year's reward halving. The first time that's happened.
Mar 31, 2025, 9:10 a.m. UTC
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, has dropped 39% this year relative to bitcoin (BTC), the largest, taking the ratio between the two to the lowest in almost five years.
At the current level, 1 ETH is the equivalent of 0.02191 BTC. That's the least since May 2020, when ether was trading around $200 and bitcoin just under $10,000. Today the ETH price is about $1,800 and the BTC price around $82,000.
The underperformance is notable because it's the first time ether has weakened against bitcoin in the 12 months after a BTC reward halving. On April 20, 2024, the payment Bitcoin miners received for confirming blocks on the blockchain was reduced by 50% to 3.125 BTC.
In previous halving cycles, ether outperformed bitcoin in the first year after a halving. This time, the ratio has dropped by more than 50%.
This relative performance also marks one of ether’s worst quarterly performances against bitcoin in several years, according to data from Glassnode. The last time ether underperformed bitcoin to a similar degree was in the third quarter of 2019, when the ratio dropped to 0.0164, a quarterly decline of 46%.
ETH/BTC Quarterly Price Performance (Glassnode)
This current slump mirrors the underperformance seen in 2019 and further highlights ether's relative weakness, especially when compared to other layer-1 assets. The SOLETH ratio — measuring the value of Solana’s SOL relative to ether — is up 24% year-to-date to 0.07007. This indicates that SOL has significantly outperformed ether in 2025, despite the token itself itself being down 35% year-to-date.
James Van Straten
James 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).
