Ethereum’s outlook has improved. After a prolonged period of underperformance and skepticism, the network is beginning to show signs of renewed structural and fundamental strength. As BTC continues to anchor the market as the leading store of value and digital gold, conditions are emerging that could allow ETH to outperform BTC in the coming period.
Why the Ethereum narrative is gaining strength
Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin. In a recent job on
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While BTC weakness weighed on the whole crypto In the market, ETH continued to benefit from institutional demand and dominance in the areas of stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
Standard Chartered also points out that increased throughput and potential clarity in US regulations could bring additional benefits. In terms of valuation, the bank forecasts ETH to reach $7,500 this year and $30,000 by 2029, reflecting expectations for sustained growth. network growth.
The co-founder of PinkBrains_io, a DeFi Creator studio, DefiIgnas, has highlighted that Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin this year, and the reason is roadmap execution. While BTC will likely continue to face recurring waves of quantum FUD through 2026, ETH has a clear roadmap to prepare for future crypto risks.
Additionally, ETH is actually scaling. Gas limits on layer 1 continue to increase, and zkEVMs will be fully production ready, making ETH cheap and fast enough for high-value transactions, while layer 2s will handle most of the high-frequency trading and trading. activity.
Related Reading: Bitcoin and Ethereum Market Structure Points to Crypto Winter – Details
These upgrades are rolling, meaning there is no breaking news. moment for ETH, but progress is rapid. Early in the cycle, many Degens stocked up on ETH ahead of the bull run, but many became disappointed and sold their ETH for BTC. “It would be fun to see the playbook reversed higher“, noted DéfiIgnas.
A liquidity cycle different from previous bull markets
The quality of liquidity of cryptocurrencies saw a change in 2025. A technical analyst and host of the show Crypto Banter, Kyledoops, reported that Wintermute noted that capital in 2025 had ceased to rotate widely in the market. Instead, liquidity is concentrated in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a small group of large-cap tokens. As a result, the long-awaited wave of altcoin-wide liquidity never really arrived.
Meanwhile, the increase spot ETFs and crypto treasury vehicles created a new, highly structured entry channel that funneled flows to the top of the market. These vehicles are breaking crypto’s oldest playbooks. Price developments are no longer driven by broad market expansion. It depends on where the new cash can actually flow.
Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
