Ether (ETH) price has climbed above $1,700 after 16 days of selling pressure caused by macroeconomic uncertainty and a sharp decline in onchain activity. Despite the rebound, Ether has underperformed the broader altcoin market by 23% year-to-date.
Some traders claim that ETH is set for a “generational” bull run by offering a “truly” decentralized and permissionless financial system, but is that really the case?
Source: X/0xMontBlanc
Ether was one of the few major cryptocurrencies that did not reach a new all-time high in 2025, unlike competitors such as Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX), and BNB (BNB).
Some critics argue that moving away from proof-of-work mining removed a competitive advantage that Ethereum once had over its rivals.
Ethereum fee drop signals ETH price weakness
Eventually, Ether may outperform its competitors, even if only for a short period, and influencers who are calling for a “generational bottom” will celebrate their predictions, despite the lack of strong fundamentals to support lasting price growth. However, considering the 95% drop in Ethereum fees since January, the chances of an immediate ETH surge seem low.
Ethereum network daily fees, USD. Source: DefiLlama
The low demand for data processing on the Ethereum network causes ETH to become inflationary, as the built-in burn mechanism is not enough to balance the new coins issued to cover staking rewards.
Despite being the clear leader in Total Value Locked (TVL), traders are generally uninterested in this metric since it hasn’t translated into higher demand for the Ethereum network or increased scarcity for ETH.
As a result, even if Ethereum’s fundamentals improve, optimism among ETH holders is declining, while competitors—especially Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) investors—are hopeful about the approval of their spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US. Currently, spot ETFs in the US are only available for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), so additional offerings would likely reduce the potential institutional demand for altcoins.
Adding to the concerns, US-listed spot Ether ETFs saw $10 million in net outflows between April 21 and April…
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