Once the king of smart contracts, this time the bull market unexpectedly fell behind! Ethereum's performance this round really makes old fans feel frustrated...

Brothers, let's be honest, it’s really a bit frustrating to watch ETH this round of the bull market! You see:

  1. The price has dropped sharply: I was eagerly hoping for it to break its previous high, but what happened? By the end of 2024, it peaked at $4006 and then stopped, still about 20% away from its historical high! Now it’s lying around $2500, directly halving from its peak! And look at Bitcoin next door, not only has it broken its previous high but has also surged above $100,000! This comparison is not very harmful but extremely insulting!

  2. Compared to Bitcoin, it's even more tragic: Here’s a heartbreaking statistic! At the end of 2021, 1 ETH could still exchange for 0.088 BTC. By April this year, good heavens, 1 ETH could only be exchanged for 0.017 BTC! Relative to Bitcoin, ETH's value has directly evaporated by 80%! The drop in this exchange rate makes my heart bleed... From an investment perspective, Bitcoin has completely outperformed ETH this round, right?

  3. Earning ability has greatly diminished: ETH claims to be the king of public chains, let's look at the 'tolls' it collects. Back in 2021-22, it could earn tens of millions of dollars a day, that was quite glorious! What about now? It’s only fluctuating between hundreds of thousands to a million a day, a reduction of more than ten times! What's even more frustrating is that a popular meme platform on Solana, Pump.fun, could earn over $7 million a day at its peak, and now it can still maintain over $1 million, earning more than ETH's mainnet! What a slap in the face...

  4. User growth is like a snail: ETH's daily active users have basically been lying around 500,000 for the past few years. In contrast, Solana has been booming! From less than 100,000 during the bear market after the FTX crash, it has skyrocketed to over 4 million daily active users now! No wonder SOL has surged so much this round! Watching ETH's user growth makes me anxious!

Why has ETH been pulled so much this round? I think it's mainly due to three big pitfalls:

1. L2 has messed up! Originally hoping L2 would solve the problems of the mainnet being slow and expensive, but what happened? The user experience is terrible! Transferring between L2s using Metamask is more troublesome than crossing to the SOL chain! What's worse is that L2 not only didn't attract users to the mainnet, but instead stole the 'tolls' from the mainnet! It feels like digging one's own grave!

2. The Ethereum Foundation is too 'Buddhist'! This development efficiency is really frustrating! Vitalik said he would work on PoS back in 2016 and only managed to get it done in 2023! The aforementioned inhumane user experience issue with L2 was shouted about for years without resolution! Vitalik patted his chest last year saying it would be optimized soon, and now it's already June 2025, and we haven't seen anything yet! This efficiency is raising my blood pressure!

3. The story can't be told anymore! In the past bull market, ETH was the absolute main character, leading every wave: ICO, DeFi, NFT, it was always in charge! What about this round? The hotspots are all elsewhere: Memecoin frenzy on SOL and Base chains, and the AI concept isn't closely related to ETH. Why? Isn't it because it's both expensive and slow with a poor experience! New money and new users have all gone to play elsewhere, and the ecological attractiveness is really not what it used to be!

Now let's look at the competitors:

Bitcoin: The king returns! $100,000+ ETF approval + institutions like MicroStrategy buying crazily + favorable policies after Trump took office... The narrative of 'digital gold' is as solid as a rock!

Solana: The dark horse counterattack! From $9.9 after the FTX crash, it soared to $294, a 30 times increase, brothers! The key is that their technology is also impressive, solving early downtime issues, now holding steady with over 4 million daily active users! The team's execution is top-notch!

Does ETH still have a future?

Although I've complained so much, we can't just dismiss it entirely. After all, ETH is still the second:

1. Thick foundation: Market cap of $300 billion, four times that of SOL! Daily trading volume of $37.5 billion, seven times that of SOL! This basic support is still there.

2. Strong brand: 'The pioneer of smart contract public chains', 'Benchmark for decentralization', this title is still the most prominent in the circle, and the trust level is high.

3. Vitalik is finally serious! Recently, the foundation underwent major reforms: new leadership, layoffs, and hiring new talent! Vitalik said he would focus on mainnet expansion and user experience, aiming for a tenfold increase in mainnet speed within a year and a hundredfold increase within two years! What does this mean? To leave behind the ineffective L2 and let the mainnet thrive! I think this approach is right!

Click on the avatar to follow, supported by a top team, looking forward to your ambition! #ETH走势分析 $ETH