ETH, once the star of the crypto world, why has it performed so 'lackluster' in this cycle? Compared to BTC and SOL, where exactly did it lose, and is there still a chance for a comeback?

📉 One, Currency price is lagging behind across the board


  • In November 2021, Ethereum reached an all-time high of $4,891, but by June 2025, it was hovering around $2,500, still far from the new high.


  • In contrast, Bitcoin has surpassed $100,000, and SOL has surged nearly 30 times from its low.


  • The ETH/BTC exchange rate dropped from 0.088 to 0.017, plummeting 80%. The data speaks: over the past three years, ETH has not only failed to make money, but even 'preserving value' has become a problem.



📊 Two, Revenue and Users: Surpassed by Solana


  • During peak periods, Ethereum's daily protocol revenue reached tens of millions of dollars, but now has dropped to hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.


  • On Solana, http://pump.fun can generate daily income of up to $7 million and is currently stable at over $1 million, crushing Ethereum's mainnet.


  • The number of active ETH addresses has hardly changed in three years (average daily about 500,000), while Solana has surged from less than 100,000 to 4 million.



👉 You think it's a market issue, but it's actually a systemic lag.

🧨 Three, Three Core Issues Exposed

1. L2 failure: User experience is too poor

L2, which was supposed to solve the high fee problem, has now become a 'stumbling block' holding it back:

  • EIP-4844 reduced fees but halved mainnet revenue.


  • The fragmented experience between L2s: Users still need to frequently switch networks and manually bridge, which has not achieved 'Layer 2 convenience'.



2. Foundation inefficiency

  • The PoS concept was proposed in 2016 and only went live in 2023.

  • In 2024, calling for 'optimization of user experience', and by mid-2025, there has still been no movement.



3. Lack of New Narratives

  • In the past, Ethereum led the ICO, DeFi, and NFT;

  • In this round, the AI and Memecoin craze are all in Solana and Base, while ETH has become a 'bystander'.




🚀 Four, The Overwhelming Advantage of BTC and SOL


  • BTC: Supported by ETFs, a shift in US policy, breaking through the $100,000 barrier, traditional funds are pouring in.


  • SOL: From $9.9 to $294, the team fixed the downtime issues, explosive growth in user numbers, and both technology and ecosystem are shining.

🔮 Five, Does ETH Still Have a Future?

Don't rush to judge the death penalty; we see some positive signals:

1. Still the big brother

  • The market cap is still as high as $300 billion, with a daily trading volume of $37.5 billion, far exceeding SOL.

  • Brand recognition and developer resources, ETH still has a moat.



2. The foundation is starting to take real action


  • Lay off 10-20 people, replace senior management, and introduce 30 interns to reshape the team.


  • Vitalik himself stepped in to propose the 'mainnet expansion plan': speed up 10 times in one year, 100 times in two years, gradually getting rid of dependence on L2.



🎯 Six, Conclusion: The Road to ETH's Counterattack

Ethereum has many problems, but the foundation is still there. If the mainnet scaling is successful and the experience is optimized, the ETH/BTC exchange rate is expected to return to 0.088, and ETH reaching $10,000 is not a dream.


👉 Here comes the problem:

Do you still believe in ETH's future?

Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments, let's witness this revenge battle of Ethereum together!