Ethereum bulls have been forced to defend against a wave of slander on Crypto X after some critics noticed the price of Ether (ETH) has been lagging against Bitcoin (BTC) and other strong-performing altcoins as of late.
The Ethereum to Bitcoin price chart — a measure of 1 Ether against 1 Bitcoin, temporarily fell below 0.05 BTC on Dec. 20, its lowest level in two years (since April 28, 2021), according to CoinMarketCap.
During the last bull market, the ratio went up to a peak of 0.087 BTC on Sept. 12, 2021, but has trended downward since. At the start of 2023, the ratio sat around 0.072 but has also fallen since then.
Critics on social media appear to be pointing the finger at Ethereum’s transaction fees, which they say have made it more enticing for crypto users to try competitor chains with lower fees.
“Ethereum is broken. You don’t have to pay those fees anymore. You have options,” said Bitcoin proponent Jason A. Williams on Dec. 20.
Data from BitInfoCharts shows that fees on Ethereum averaged out at around $11 on Dec. 19, though Bitcoin fees are still pricier at approximately $32. On the other hand, Solana’s fees are consistently under $0.01, according to CoinCodex.
Even Vitalik Buterin, one of the creators of Ethereum, recently said Ethereum will ultimately “fail” unless transaction fees become cheaper, particularly during bull markets.
But other Ethereum bulls have been quick to come to its defense.
Anthony Sassano, host of the Ethereum show The Daily Gwei was adamant Ethereum is undervalued in the current market, while Bankless co-host Ryan Sean Adams said he’s “gobsmacked” at the negative sentiment he’s seen on Ethereum:
“I never anticipated ETH would be viewed as non-consensus underdog again, yet here we are. Long ETH 2024."
Related: Solana price technicals hint at 40% crash by New Year’s
Meanwhile, Solana (SOL) bulls have also been quick to note that the price of SOL has been performing well against other cryptocurrencies including Ether, particularly over the last three months. SOL is up 12% to $83 over the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
Other pundits have pointed to Solana overtaking Ethereum in decentralized exchange (DEX), stablecoin and nonfungible token (NFT) trading volumes over both 24-hour and seven-day intervals this week, with the recent price action prompting others to even suggest that Solana will “flip” Ethereum one day.
Solana absolutely ripping. The sol bros deserve to dance on graves right now (including ours). ETHBTC ratio absolutely humiliated. Vitalik keeps selling ETH. Ethereum community rocking back and forth in the mental asylum saying “Layer 2…Layer 2…Layer 2…” pic.twitter.com/xZhVx7XkVh
— Autism Capital (@AutismCapital) December 20, 2023
However, Ethereum still has the most total value locked (TVL) on its network at $28 billion — while Solana sits fifth in TVL at $1.15 billion, according to DefiLlama.
In addition, Ethereum’s market cap/ TVL (Mcap/TVL) ratio is 9.4 compared to Solana’s 30.45. Mcap/TVL is a commonly used metric to measure a blockchain’s intrinsic value.
As Ethereum’s value is lower, it could suggest it is undervalued (relative to Solana).
I'm honestly in disbelief with how undervalued ETH is right now and how it's somehow become a non-consensus bet.
— sassal.eth/acc (@sassal0x) December 19, 2023
No matter - I can keep buying ETH longer than the market can stay retarded.
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