I believe everyone has clearly felt that since institutions entered the market, the logic of operation in the cryptocurrency market has completely changed.

In the past, as long as the market was in a FOMO mood, whoever had the hottest topics and concepts would rally fiercely; after all, everyone was just air. Projects with consensus and capable of stirring people's emotions could easily become hundredfold or thousandfold coins when their market capitalization was small.

But now it has completely changed. Institutions almost only buy BTC and ETH, and at most a bit of SOL; they don't even glance at other projects.

Since mid-2022, the driving force behind the Bitcoin bull market has been driven by ETF expectations, ETF funds, “MicroStrategy” funds, and listed company treasury funds, which have collectively net purchased over 1 million. There are still no signs of stopping, and the chips are quite solid. The circulating chips in the market are decreasing, so the price remains strong.

Now it's Ethereum's turn. ETF funds and listed company treasury funds have begun to buy ETH in large amounts, even vying to become the “MicroStrategy” of Ethereum. The continuous buying of ETH by listed companies has led to a price increase, which drives the appreciation of listed company assets, which in turn leads to continued buying of ETH, creating a “flywheel effect.” This trend will not end in the short term.

Trump has once again imposed tariffs on the EU, Canada, and other countries. The Federal Reserve is not cutting interest rates, and the ancient whale holding 80,000 BTC is selling, but these negative factors cannot shake the market. Because the market has entered a trend driven by capital, it has its own rhythm. Unless the U.S. economy experiences a recession leading to a significant decline in the U.S. stock market, it could shake these traditional financial institutions and large holders.

Although the “flywheel effect” feels a bit like “the left foot stepping on the right foot” in its rise, there is still participation possible before the wind dissipates. Institutions with large capital volumes are not afraid. What do we have to fear? Since institutions have created the “flywheel effect” for Ethereum, which will not end in the short term, we can focus on opportunities within the Ethereum ecosystem, such as the largest DEX protocol #uni; the largest lending protocol #aave; Layer 2 public chains #arb, #op; domain system #ens; the largest staking protocol #ldo; the largest re-staking protocol #eigen, etc. We can pay more attention to whichever catches our eye, and as for who rises the most, it depends on the market manipulators.