Key Insights:

• Ether has hit its lowest value against Bitcoin since March 2021.
• Bitcoin reached an all-time high ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
• The popularity of the Solana blockchain for memecoins has negatively impacted Ether’s performance.

Ether (ETH) fell to 0.03 BTC on Sunday, nearly 50% lower than it was a year ago, as Bitcoin surged in anticipation of the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The exchange ratio previously peaked above 0.08 in 2022.

The value of ETH has been in decline, while Bitcoin touched a record high above $109,000 earlier. Over the past year, Bitcoin has returned 160% to its investors, while Ether has only gained about 40% and is still approximately 30% below its 2021 peak.

While Ether generally thrives when its blockchain is favored over Bitcoin or others, it faces challenges linked to emerging blockchains.

“Ethereum has notably underperformed this cycle, particularly as Solana gains traction through the memecoin frenzy and events like Trump’s official memecoin launch on Solana instead of Ethereum.” - Min Jung, Investment Analyst at Presto Research

“That said, World Liberty Financial’s recent accumulation of $ETH highlights that Ethereum continues to maintain strong appeal among institutions. As the only cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin with an ETF, Ethereum is well-positioned to be the next focal point after Bitcoin.” - Min Jung

Bitcoin is not only setting highs against Ethereum but is outperforming traditional assets such as gold as well. Bitcoin now stands at the equivalent value of 40 oz. of gold, reaching about 11.4% of the gold market capitalization.